


Maybe

by tsuyamon



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Awkward Flirting, Boys Kissing, Denial of Feelings, Fluff, Fluff FEST up in here, Fluff and Angst, High School, M/M, Seriously so much fluff though, Slice of Life, Violetshipping, puppyshipping - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-27
Updated: 2019-02-21
Packaged: 2019-09-28 11:09:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 24,556
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17181830
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tsuyamon/pseuds/tsuyamon
Summary: Kaiba and Jounouchi start to see each other in a different light, but with these new perspectives come new (or are they new?) feelings.Fluffy, no dog stuff. Heavily inspired by Alecto's fic, Side Deck! If you haven't given it a read, definitely do so! ♡





	1. school project

**Author's Note:**

> As I said in the summary, this is very inspired by Alecto's fic, Side Deck! One of my absolute favorite Kaiba/Jou fics that I've ever read - if you haven't read it yet, you need to! It's unfinished, but completely worth it to read. ♡

The beginning of October was particularly stressful for students involved in event-planning this year - not only did they have to throw together a haunted house, there had been a vote and an American style “Sadie Hawkins” dance was going to be held this year, for the very first time.

On the first Wednesday of the month, four of the girls from the committee took the floor during the morning announcements.

“Good morning, everyone! We are so excited to announce our first ever ‘Sadie Hawkins’ dance!”

Her smile didn’t falter when she was met with a chorus of groans from the boys in the class.

“This morning we’ve decided to pass out what will be considered your official invitations! This dance is different than other American style dances - girls will be required to ask boys with these special invites only. Please remember there are only two and a half weeks before the dance, so make sure to ask someone soon!”

The class didn’t groan this time, instead beginning to chatter excitedly about who might end up asking who. All four committee members passed out their special golden invites to the girls, finishing up quickly and leaving to move on to the next homeroom.

“Sorry to disappoint you Anzu, but I’m hoping for someone else to ask me,” Jounouchi teased, ducking out of the way as she swung at him. She turned around in her seat and waved her invitation in his face.

“Get a good look - you’re never seeing another one of these again.”

Jounouchi stuck his tongue out at her and sunk back in his chair, lazily spreading his legs across the aisle next to them.

Their group had gotten particularly lucky with the homeroom seating arrangement this semester. Jounouchi sat one row up from the back in the right corner, with Anzu in front of him and Honda in front of her. Yuugi sat to the left of Anzu, and Otogi in front of him. That left Bakura, who was seated one to the left and behind Jounouchi in the back row - right next to Kaiba, who had somehow scored the best seat of all in the far right corner.

Despite their close proximity, there weren’t as many fights between Jounouchi and Kaiba these days, especially with Bakura so close by, always ready to diffuse any potential arguments. At lunch, all he had to do was switch seats with the girl in front of him (Sakura, they were pretty sure her name was) and their group could easily scoot their desks together to eat.

Kaiba usually wasn’t present for lunch. Seeing as it was a full 45 minute break, listening to the mindless conversations of his classmates didn’t seem like a very good use of time. Usually he’d duck outside and get some work done on his laptop in the peace and quiet of the library; every once in a while Isono would bring him a nice, freshly cooked meal that he’d eat in the comfort of a limousine before returning to class.

After their first four teachers had finished their lessons on this particular Wednesday, though, Kaiba stayed put, pulling out his laptop right at his desk to send a few emails.

Yuugi and the rest scooted their desks together, as usual, chatting about homework and the events up ahead. Kaiba did his best to tune them out until they all quieted down suddenly, forcing him to glance up out of curiosity.

“Um, Jounouchi-chan?”

His mouth full of noodles, Jounouchi looked up from his ramen to find a girl from the front row of their class standing next to their desk island.

“Hm?” he grunted, shooting a glare at Honda and Anzu who couldn’t help but giggle at his ridiculous ramen-stuffed face.

“I was just wondering if you’d like to go to the dance with me,” she squeaked, her cheeks becoming more red by the second. Kaiba rolled his eyes. Of all people to be embarrassed in front of, Jounouchi was certainly not the most deserving.

She held the invitation out in front of her, glancing back and forth between it and Jounouchi impatiently. After swallowing his massive wad of noodles, he grinned and stood up from his desk to give her a hug.

“Course I’ll go with you! Thanks, Aiko.”

Her cheeks flushed even darker and she laughed nervously as she accepted his hug. Still giggling, she danced back to the group of girls she’d come from, who were all swiveled around in their desks, watching.

“Look at you, lady-killer,” Honda punched Jounouchi’s shoulder lightly, and Kaiba glanced up again, just catching the toothy grin that spread across Jounouchi’s face.

“What was that you were saying earlier, Anzu?” he teased, holding a hand up to his ear.

“Shut up, Jou. You got lucky.”

Kaiba couldn’t help but snort behind them, and Jounouchi whipped around, scowling in his direction.

“Somethin’ funny?”

“Not at all, bonkotsu,” Kaiba mumbled, but his smirk didn’t fade as he went back to answering emails.

“I don’t see any invites on your desk.”

Kaiba only glanced up at him one last time, his smirk still in full force. It took everything in Jounouchi not to smack him.

“Fuckin’ dick,” he mumbled, turning back around to face his friends.

~

Later that afternoon, class ended a few minutes early, giving their homeroom a head start out the door. Yuugi and Jounouchi hardly ever kept anything in their lockers, so they stood at the end of the hall chatting as they waited for their friends to gather their things.

Kaiba stood at the other end of the hall, entering his combination quickly to avoid sticking around any longer than was absolutely necessary. As he opened his locker, though, four golden, heart shaped pieces of paper floated onto the floor in front of him.

Yuugi happened to notice this, and after alerting Jounouchi, they both tried their hardest not to stare, instead turning to each other with wide eyes.

“How many even was that?” Jounouchi was incredulous. The entire time he’d known Kaiba, he’d never seen him even come close to a girl at school, let alone talk to one. And somehow, there were four separate girls who wanted him as a date?

“You can’t deny Kaiba’s a handsome guy,” Honda shrugged, stepping in between them. “Are we going to Yuugi’s today?”

“Yes!” Yuugi squeaked, and launched into a summary of the new cards he and his Grandpa had just received. Jounouchi was still caught up in Kaiba until they left, though - he’d thrown all four golden invitations in the wastebasket next to his locker.

~

The rest of the week went by uneventfully, until Friday when their teacher had a special announcement in their final period.

“Next week we will be starting a new unit, which means there will be a group project coming up!”

Their teacher was met with silence, and the quiet shuffling of some students trying to pack up their things.

“This group project will be a 15 page report, neatly typed and presented. Groups of four, please. I’m telling you this now, so that on Monday there are no surprises! Feel free to choose your groups.”

The bell rang, and everyone scrambled to both collect their things and form their groups. Kaiba stayed back, packing up his briefcase much slower than usual.

“Kaiba, do you have a group?”

He lifted his head and found Yuugi perched on his desk.

“I’ll get it taken care of,” he muttered with a wave of his hand. Midterms and final exams were the only things Kaiba ever fully completed and turned in. Everyday assignments were a complete waste of time, and he had more than enough money and influence to get them waived.

“Instead of doing that, why don’t you join our group?” Yuugi chirped. Kaiba sighed under his breath. The endless attempts at friendship were exhausting, but he had to admit, joining their group would probably be easier than going the always annoying route of being excused.

“Fine,” he grunted, snapping the locks on his briefcase.

Clearly not expecting this response, Yuugi grinned. “Wow, excellent! We’re with Jou and Honda, and this -”

“I’m not coming to any group meetings,” Kaiba cut him off. “I will provide anything you need, including research materials or a place to work. But I’m not wasting any time on this.”

Yuugi’s face fell, but he remained optimistic - something Kaiba both admired and despised about him. “When we’re done, you’re doing the whole bibliography. Deal?”

Kaiba glared at him, but begrudgingly agreed before turning on his heel and marching out of the classroom.

~

A week and a half later, the Sadie Hawkins dance was two days away, and their reports were due tomorrow. Honda, Jounouchi, and Yuugi sat around their final draft on the floor of Yuugi’s room.

“I can’t believe you let that asshole join our group,” Jounouchi grumbled, reading through his third of the report for what must have been the fortieth time. They’d been at Yuugi’s since school had ended, and it was almost 8:00.

“We finished the report with no problems, Jou,” Yuugi dismissed him. “Complaining at this point does nothing.”

After a few more final proof-reads, Yuugi printed the final paper before carefully placing it in a clear folder and handing it to Jounouchi.

“What are you givin’ it to me for?”

“You get to go to Kaiba’s and retrieve the bibliography he should have written and printed out by now,” Yuugi explained.“It won’t take long, Jou, he’s only a twenty minute walk away.”

Jounouchi made a face. “Why me? Can’t he just bring it tomorrow?”

“I just think you need to learn to cut Kaiba some slack, Jou,” Yuugi calmly explained, fixing a few uneven edges in the folder Jounouchi held. “I don’t try to include him in things solely for our benefit - although being friends would certainly make some things easier…”

“Then why?” Honda piped up from across the carpet as he flicked through the TV guide.

Yuugi sighed. “Kaiba…” he trailed off, trying to figure out how to properly explain. “He likes to make you think he _chooses_ not to have friends. But I know better. He doesn’t have friends because he doesn’t know how to make any, so he sits alone in his little fortress of solitude, hoping and wishing that someday some friends will break down the door.” He chirped a small laugh at his own explanation.

Jounouchi rolled his eyes, but admittedly, Yuugi’s explanation did make sense. It had honestly never occurred to him that Kaiba could actually be aware of how socially inept he was, and maybe even be self conscious about it.

Lacking the energy to argue any further, he sighed and headed downstairs to put on his coat, ducking into the bathroom for a quick check on his injury.

The previous weekend had been a rough one in the Jounouchi household. His father had come home after a particularly difficult work week to find Jou playing video games in the living room.

“Katsuya, are you fuckin’ kiddin’ me right now? This place looks like shit, and you’re playin’ some bullshit game?”

They’d argued for almost an hour, things only escalating with every insult thrown. Things finally ended when his father started throwing empty bottles at the wall, the last one breaking so close to Jounouchi’s head that he’d gotten a rather deep cut near his hairline. The sight of blood on his hands had made him woozy, but he’d managed to get in his bedroom and jam a chair underneath the knob before his father could continue their fight.

Several hours later, he’d crept outside to find his father passed out on the couch, a half empty bottle sitting on the coffee table in front of him.

He’d still slept with a chair underneath the knob every night since.

In Yuugi’s bathroom, he pulled back his bangs to reveal the small gash, wincing when he brushed it with his knuckles.

“Fuckin’ bastard,” he muttered, wetting a wad of toilet paper with cold water and dabbing it a few times. Making sure to flush the evidence for good measure, he smoothed his bangs back into place and left into the chilly night air.

He made it to Kaiba’s mansion in record time, just under fifteen minutes. The buzzer on the gate was covered with a sheer coat of frost, and Jounouchi shivered as he booped it with his hand.

After a few seconds, the gate opened, and he slipped through the middle before running up to the front door and pounding on the wood. Mokuba opened it only a moment later, grinning up at him.

“Jounouchi! Why are you here?”

Too cold to worry about etiquette, Jounouchi squeezed past him to get inside and stretched his arms. “I’m here to get some bibli-somethin’ from your brother. Where is he?”

“I have it right here.”

Kaiba floated in through a door on their right, holding a very fancy clear folder with an even fancier looking bibliography inside, printed on what looked like very thick paper. Jounouchi tried not to roll his eyes - even his homework was pretentious.

“Thanks,” Jounouchi mumbled. “Mind if I sit here for a few minutes? It’s super cold outside.”

Kaiba shrugged and disappeared back through the doorway, only this time, Jounouchi followed. They both stepped into what must have been the main kitchen, and Jounouchi took a seat on a stool in front of a vast, marble counter.

They were alone in the kitchen, Mokuba having left as soon as he could tell there was nothing exciting going on. It was clear Jounouchi had walked in on Kaiba brewing a cup of tea, as he was steeping a bag in what must have been a very expensive tea cup.

“What kinda tea you drinkin’?”

Kaiba hesitated before answering. He hadn’t thought Jounouchi to be a tea drinker - but stranger things had happened. “Chai. Would you like some?”

“Sure.”

Jounouchi certainly hadn’t been expecting his offer, but being so chilly, the choice was obvious. He watched as Kaiba stretched to a top shelf and grabbed an identical tea cup, pouring still boiling water into it from the kettle and dropping in a tea bag.

Steam rose from the cup as he placed it gingerly in front of Jounouchi, and he sat down on a stool opposite of him, where a laptop was already set up. For a few minutes, they sat in silence, only disturbed by the click of Kaiba’s mouse every so often.

Harsh slurping brought Kaiba out of his peaceful work, and he furrowed his brow as he shut the laptop.

“Must you make that noise?”

“S’hot,” Jounouchi mumbled, setting his cup down rather roughly and shifting around on his stool. He flicked his hair out of his eyes suddenly, and Kaiba caught a glimpse of what looked like fresh blood beneath his bangs.

“Are you bleeding?”

Jounouchi’s face flushed, and he straightened up in his seat before grunting, “No.”

“I have bandages, you know, it’s not that big of -”

“It’s fine, Kaiba.”

He said it with such a finality that Kaiba backed off. He couldn’t help but wonder, though, what must have happened. Fresh blood meant that it was either recent, or deep, both of which weren’t good to ignore. After a minute or two of deliberating and listening to Jounouchi’s slurping, he pried further.

“Are you alright?”

Jounouchi glared at him over his tea cup. “My dad’s just a fuckin’ asshole. Don’t you already know that shit?” He got up abruptly and slid his cup across the counter. “Thanks for the tea and the bib… the thing. See you.”

He was out the front door before Kaiba had really processed what he’d said. Jounouchi’s father actually physically abused him? Not only that, he abused him to the point that he was _bleeding_ from his forehead. The thought unsettled him, and he couldn’t help but recall the abuse he’d suffered under his own stepfather in the past.

Kaiba stared into his tea as he stirred it. Even that man, as horrible as he was, had never made him _bleed._

~

At school the next day, Kaiba stared at the back of Jounouchi’s head all day as usual, but it felt different. Knowing what he must be going through at home, how was he able to stay so upbeat and positive at school? Kaiba had never meant anything with his insults, but now that he knew what Jounouchi had been dealing with, he couldn’t help but feel guilty for piling even more shit on top of him.

During their lunch break, he stayed at his desk again, quietly pulling out his laptop and listening to them as they moved their desks in front of him.

“Are you still coming tomorrow, Jou?”

“Yeah, I told you I'll stay the night at your place so there's no problems with the old man. I’ll be fine,” he reassured Yuugi, patting him on the shoulder as he pulled out what looked like a very old container of rice.

They ate in relative silence, only chattering about the dance every once in a while. Kaiba had even brought a lunch, a nice bento box that he’d found in the fridge on his way out the door this morning. Not that he’d planned on eavesdropping.

“Kaiba, who are you going with?”

He lifted his head to find Anzu twisted around in her chair, looking at him expectantly. The others continued eating behind her, but were clearly listening.

“No one.” He fiddled with a clump of rice.

Anzu cocked her head. “But you got so many invitations! Why aren’t you going?”

Kaiba’s eyebrows furrowed.

“How do you know that?”

Anzu’s eyes widened for only a moment before she relaxed and turned back to her food. “I just assumed. Either way, sorry you’re not going.”

Kaiba glared at her, but went back to eating. He pulled out his phone to check for any new emails when Yuugi suddenly started whispering, and he had to focus all his effort just to hear part of what he was saying.

“...you know we _should,_ Jounouchi,” he hissed.

Cursing under his breath at his inability to hear everything, Kaiba put his phone away and hastily finished the rest of his rice, stuffing the container back into his briefcase.

~

The next night, they’d decided to gather at Yuugi’s house before heading to the dance. The living room was more full than Jounouchi had ever seen it - everyone had a date, and he watched as they all tried to figure out their corsages.

There was Anzu and Yuugi, Honda had been asked by Sakura, the girl who sat next to Jounouchi, Otogi had been forced to make the difficult decision of choosing between three girls, and Bakura was asked by a girl from a different homeroom. Jounouchi’s date, Aiko, stood next to him, messing with the flowers on her wrist.

“These are so stupid,” she muttered, attempting to adjust it into a more flattering position.

“Jounouchi, we’re still stopping by Kaiba’s, aren’t we?” Yuugi beamed up at him, his arm threaded through Anzu’s.

He sighed. After hearing about Kaiba’s planned absence from the dance, Yuugi for some reason found it necessary to invite him one last time to come with their group. After all, it wasn’t _strictly_ required that he had a date - it wasn’t like they could turn anyone away at the door. Especially if they were in a group.

But after Kaiba seeing the cut on his forehead, and him blurting out that shit about his dad, bringing him along only sounded embarrassing. Yuugi was stubborn, though, and he knew it would be easier to just go with it. Kaiba wouldn’t come anyway.

After confirming this idea with the rest of the group, they piled into their rented limousine (split between four boys, an hour only cost $25 each) and headed for the Kaiba mansion.

They pulled up outside and Yuugi got out, dragging Jounouchi with him. After buzzing the gate, it opened slightly and they jogged up to the front door. Mokuba opened it, as usual, and upon seeing them dressed in suits, he squealed.

“Where are you guys going?”

“To a high school dance,” Yuugi explained. “Where’s your brother?”

“Nii-sama is upstairs. I’ll get him!”

Jounouchi and Yuugi exchanged an amused look before stepping through the doorway and shutting the door behind them, politely waiting in the entryway. As Kaiba slowly came down the steps, being tugged by Mokuba, he stopped at the sight of them and sighed before putting his hands in his pockets.

“I’m not going to your dance.”

“Come on, nii-sama, you have nothing to do! You were upstairs doing the sudoku just now!”

Kaiba’s face flushed, and while Jounouchi usually would have laughed, now he just felt a pang of sadness. He’d been thinking about what Yuugi had said all night - being alone sucked. For once, he felt like he could relate.

“No, Mokuba.”

“You have a fresh pressed suit hanging in the closet,” Mokuba whined. “You never go out. Go. Right now!”

“C’mon, Kaiba,” Jounouchi blurted. “We want you to come.”

Kaiba stared back at him, but it seemed different than usual, and Jounouchi felt his own cheeks flush. After a few seconds of everyone standing in silence and Mokuba bouncing up and down in anticipation, Kaiba sighed again.

“I’m not staying all night.”

Mokuba squealed and bolted up the stairs, coming back with a suit covered in plastic and a very shiny pair of shoes. He held them out to Kaiba, who took them both, muttering to himself as he went in the other room to change.

“Nii-sama never goes out with anyone, so thanks for inviting him,” Mokuba gushed. “I know he’s always grumpy, but he really does like you guys. I know it.”

They smiled down at him, genuinely charmed by his tiny words of wisdom. Kaiba couldn’t be all bad, Jounouchi thought. He raised Mokuba.

~

The dance was horrible.

And this thought didn’t belong to Kaiba alone - the majority of boys in the room were thinking the same thing. The entire auditorium had been decorated in pink and silver, with tinsel and streamers covering almost every surface.

He sat at one of the flimsy tables, in a ridiculous heart-shaped chair, sipping what was basically sugar water out of a filthy plastic cup. A soiree, this was not.

Yuugi and his friends danced in front of him, blissfully unaware of how bored he was. He watched Yuugi twirl Anzu multiple times underneath his arm, taking note of how surprisingly graceful they were together. Next to them, though, were Otogi and Honda, who were having what looked like a very difficult time with their dates, bumping into them constantly.

He scanned the crowd for Jounouchi, easily picking his golden fluffy head out near the refreshments table. His date was pouring herself a cup of punch, and Jounouchi was leaned against the wall next to her, looking - well, he looked bored, if Kaiba was being honest. It wasn’t like his date was particularly pretty, but knowing most teenage boys, he’d been expecting Jounouchi to be all over her. The fact that he wasn’t seemed odd. Why else had he come to the dance?

A chill ran down his spine and he took a deep breath, putting it down to being dehydrated and in a room full of sweaty teenagers.

Suddenly, Jounouchi was jogging over to his table, and Kaiba straightened up in his seat, hoping he hadn’t been caught staring in his direction.

“Hey, you bored?” Jounouchi asked, sitting down in a chair opposite him.

Kaiba only looked at him. Such a stupid question didn’t deserve an answer.

“Ah,” he mumbled, reaching into the lining of his jacket and pulling out a small silver square. “I got some booze.” He waggled his eyebrows at Kaiba, glancing around quickly before sliding the flask across the table.

Kaiba snorted, but took it quickly to avoid attracting attention. “Alcohol? Really?”

“What?” Jounouchi scoffed. Like he’d never drank at a shitty social event. “Do you want some or not?”

He had him there. Kaiba shrugged and took a quick drink, grimacing at the taste of cheap whiskey before sliding it back. The alcohol warmed his throat, and he could feel his chest relax. He’d hardly eaten all day, so it wasn’t going to take much to get him buzzed.

As Jounouchi took another swig, Otogi scampered up to their table with wide eyes.

“Jou, Honda found -”

“Guess who found three a’these?” Honda interrupted, jumping in front of him and fanning out three cigarettes in his hand.

Kaiba snorted again. It obviously didn’t take much to impress poor people.

“Hell yeah,” Jounouchi pumped his fist and turned to face Kaiba, sliding the flask across the table again. “You wanna smoke with us?”

Still unsure as to why he was being treated like this, Kaiba shrugged and took a second drink from the flask before standing up and joining them on their journey outside.

Once they were out the back door and a good thirty feet away from the building, they concealed themselves behind a dumpster and Honda pulled out a lighter, distributing the cigarettes between them. Kaiba handed Jou the flask, not at all offended by his lack of a cigarette - they probably thought he’d turn it down anyway.

Both Otogi and Jounouchi leaned in with their cigarettes in their mouth so Honda could light them, and Kaiba couldn't look away from Jou as he maneuvered the tip into the flame, tensing his jaw.

After they’d all been lit, Honda pocketed the lighter and they stood in silence, puffing and clearing their throats. A few drags later, Jounouchi had an internal debate about whether or not to offer any to Kaiba. When he pulled his cigarette out of his mouth and glanced over, he was startled to meet Kaiba’s gaze.

“Do you want a hit?” he prompted, suddenly flustered.

Kaiba stared for a few seconds, but took the cigarette out of his hand and hit it twice before passing it back without a word. Otogi and Honda exchanged a glance, but said nothing.

On their walk back to the building, Kaiba shuffled alongside Jounouchi, suddenly very aware of how tipsy he actually was. He didn’t drink very often, and his body fat percentage was quite low, so his tolerance was practically nothing. Jounouchi fumbled along beside him, both boys hyper aware of the other beside them.

As soon as they got through the door, they were ambushed by Anzu and Yuugi.

“Kaiba, come dance with us!” Anzu shouted, grinning up at him, and before he could protest, he was being dragged by both wrists to the middle of the crowded dance floor.

For the next half hour, he allowed them to dance around him as he stood still, tapping his foot and only slightly swaying to the beat. Even he couldn’t help but smile when both Anzu and Yuugi bumped hips with him in an attempt to loosen him up, giggling the entire time.

~

The air outside was freezing, but after being cooped up in an auditorium with a bunch of sweaty people for two hours, it was a welcome change.

Both Jounouchi and Honda held their suit coats in one hand, play-fighting in the street as they took the short walk to Yugi’s house. Having had a few more swigs from Jounouchi’s flask, Kaiba felt rather relaxed, almost comfortable. He lingered behind everyone, where he could observe Jounouchi without fear of being noticed.

He watched as Honda got him in a headlock, pulling his bangs back and exposing his forehead for a few seconds. The cut below his hairline was no longer bleeding, however it was clear that it was definitely much deeper than a standard scratch.

Kaiba chewed the inside of his lip for the remainder of the walk.

After arriving at Yuugi’s house, everyone piled into the living room and collapsed onto the floor and futon, still buzzing from the dance. Honda and Otogi immediately lunged for the stereo, and pop music filled the room only a moment later. Kaiba sat down in a chair by the door and pulled out his phone, preparing to call Isono to come pick him up.

“Hey, are you leaving?”

Yuugi peered over his shoulder at Isono’s contact page, looking far too concerned for what was actually happening.

“I stayed for the entire event, which was far longer than I’d been informed of, by the way.”

“But we’re all staying the night here, and you’re part of the group!” Yuugi pouted. Suddenly he smiled, his voice dropping to a whisper. “There’s a guest bedroom upstairs that’s got a really nice bed. You can sleep up there, just don’t brag about it! Please?”

Kaiba glanced over at the still chattering group, noticing Jounouchi on the couch, his date’s legs thrown over his lap. He bristled, quickly looking back at Yuugi to avoid thinking about his reaction.

“Alright.”

Yuugi grinned and turned to the group, yelling that he’d be right back before taking Kaiba by the arm and dragging him upstairs into what was, admittedly, a very cozy little bedroom.

“There’s some pajamas in here,” Yuugi mumbled, pulling out a drawer that contained several pairs of t-shirts and sweats. “You can go to bed or come down and hang out. Either way, thanks so much for coming, Kaiba! We had a great time with you.”

He beamed up at Kaiba, who offered a weak smile in return, and with that he closed the door and scampered back down the stairs.

Kaiba sighed. If he’d called Isono, he’d be home with a hot cup of tea and the rest of the mystery he’d been reading in his lap. He’d never been one to worry about a social life, but that damn flask of Jounouchi’s had made him tipsy enough (weak enough, really) to give in to Yuugi’s charms. Speaking of, he hoped he wouldn’t feel like complete shit in the morning. His chest still felt warm, and his head was still foggy.

The sweats Yuugi had offered him were hilariously short, but fit him around the waist. He pulled up the pant legs to just below his knee, and laughed quietly to himself at how ridiculous he looked. The t-shirts fit him fine, and he picked one with a cereal logo on it before throwing it on and sitting on the edge of the bed.

His nightly routine was completely ruined at this point, but he pulled out his phone to check for any final emails as he usually did before crawling into bed. He was interrupted by a faint tap at the door, only managing to look up before Jounouchi cautiously entered the room.

“You need anything?”

Kaiba fidgeted on the edge of the bed, nervously pulling his legs up into a criss cross in an attempt to hide his naked calves. Jounouchi definitely noticed, but made no indication.

“I’m fine, thanks.”

But instead of leaving, Jounouchi swung the door closed behind him and walked further into the room, sitting next to him on the edge of the bed.

“I just wanted to say thanks for comin’, everyone had a super good time includin’ me,” he mumbled. “An’ I know you did too, even if you won’t say it.”

They sat in silence for a few very long seconds, Jounouchi sort of waiting for a response but sort of not. He turned to face Kaiba more directly and their knees pressed together, but neither of them moved.

Kaiba’s brain was nowhere near as clear as it usually was - not only was the alcohol from earlier still affecting him, the sensation of Jounouchi’s knee against his was completely scrambling his thoughts. 

Alarm bells screamed in the back of his head, and suddenly he felt like he was having an out of body experience. It was like he was watching through someone else’s eyes - he didn’t feel his arm move, but he watched it happen. He raised a hand to Jounouchi’s face and lightly brushed his bangs to the side, exposing the still-bad wound above his eye.

Jou held his breath, any words he could have said were now stuck in his throat. Kaiba examined his cut for a few seconds in silence. He finally looked down and they made eye contact for only a split second before Jounouchi got up rather abruptly and fled the room, clumsily shutting the door behind him.

He squatted down on the floor outside Yuugi’s guest room, putting a hand on his chest in an attempt to will his heart to stop beating so fast.

Why had he reached out and touched him? Why was he still looking at the cut on his forehead? Was he just being a dick? Jou knew he wasn’t. He’d noticed Kaiba looking at him throughout the night, but it was different than usual. His gaze wasn't so cold, there was no malice behind it - it was a look of honest observation, of curiosity. And just now, in the guest room, his face had looked so much more… genuine, than usual.

Kaiba sat on the edge of the bed not five feet away, separated by the bedroom door. His heart was racing just as fast.


	2. the carnival

It had taken ages for Kaiba to fall asleep, and he chose to place the blame solely on the bass that had been rhythmically thumping through the floor until one in the morning. His alarm went off at 7:00 sharp, an hour earlier than he usually woke up on Sundays - but he wanted to get out of this house as soon as possible, and before anyone else even had a chance of waking up.

He sat up and rubbed the sleep from his eyes, stretching his legs before sitting up to retrieve his suit pants that he’d taken care to neatly fold and place on top of the dresser. As he changed out of Yuugi’s tiny sweatpants, he considered whether or not to change into his dress shirt, finally deciding to keep Yuugi’s t-shirt on for the ride home and return it to him later. His suit smelled terrible after last night.

Walking downstairs, he tried his hardest to keep quiet, but was unable to stop himself from flinching when the final step creaked loudly. Everyone had passed out in various spots in the living room. Kaiba smirked at the sight of Otogi and Honda practically spooning on the futon, but his face fell as he realized Jounouchi was nowhere to be seen.

The muffled whistle of a boiling tea-kettle suddenly caught his attention, but it was gone as quickly as it came. Kaiba’s legs moved of their own free will and carried him quietly into the kitchen around the corner where he stood in the doorway, Isono’s contact page still open on the phone he held in his hand.

Jounouchi reached for the teabags he knew Yuugi kept on top of the fridge and accidentally knocked the box onto the counter, startling both him and Kaiba.

“Jesus,” he mumbled, rolling his eyes at himself before ripping open a teabag and dropping it into his cup. Kaiba stood frozen in the doorway and watched as he poured boiling water from the kettle, being careful not to spill.

He gently set the kettle back on the stovetop and turned around to find some sugar in the few small cabinets Yuugi’s kitchen held. At the sight of Kaiba in the doorway, he jumped so violently that he whacked his mug on the counter, splashing himself.

“Christ, Kaiba,” he muttered, rubbing his wrist and pulling a paper towel off the roll to clean up. Before going to sleep last night, he’d made the decision to treat Kaiba normally whenever they spoke next. Bringing up their weird moment was... unnecessary.

“Sorry, I just…” Kaiba trailed off. He had no excuse for creepily watching him make tea, and prepared to defend himself. Jounouchi didn’t even acknowledge it though, and his voice was much softer when he spoke again.

“It’s fine, I just didn’t see you. You want some tea?” He didn’t wait for a response and pulled a mug off of the rack in front of him, filling it with water. Kaiba’s breath hitched when he ripped open a second teabag with his teeth and dropped it in.

Jounouchi picked up both of their mugs and carefully made his way across the kitchen, staring at the steaming tea in his hands the whole time. Once he’d wobbled his way to the doorway, Kaiba stepped aside to let him through and followed him to a small nook where three chairs were placed around a table. He’d never been in this part of Yuugi’s house before.

Both boys sat down, leaving the middle chair empty between them. Just as Kaiba opened his mouth to say he was leaving, Jounouchi held up a finger and dashed back into the kitchen, returning with a small pot of sugar and a spoon.

After placing a heaping spoonful in his own tea, he stirred it for a second and slid it over to Kaiba, who reluctantly added a bit to his own mug. Jounouchi’s heart pounded, but at this point it was impossible to blame it on being startled.

“I was just going to call Isono to pick me up, but thank you for the tea.”

“Leavin’ so soon?” Jounouchi teased, somehow. After last night, being this close to Kaiba was rather unnerving.

He raised an eyebrow. “I’ve been with your group for,” he glanced at his watch, “almost twelve hours at this point.”

Jounouchi eyed him over his tea as he took a sip. “We’re goin’ to the carnival today, ‘cause it’s the last day it’ll be up. You should come. You’re on a roll.”

After his weird out of body experience the night before, Kaiba wasn’t sure how much longer he could handle being around Jounouchi today, let alone his entire group of friends. They sat in tense silence for a good five minutes, Kaiba swirling his tea constantly.

He took a final drink of what remained and set the mug down, leaning back in his chair and crossing his arms. His phone still sat on the table in front of him, but he could only stare at it for some reason.

Jounouchi stood up abruptly with a loud sigh and grabbed both empty mugs, pulling his chair closer to the table with his foot before turning to leave the room.

“It’s fine. Thanks for coming last night, it meant a lot to Yuugi.”

And with that, he left the room, leaving Kaiba alone at the table. He stewed in silence for a minute before standing up and walking back to the kitchen. Jounouchi stood in front of the sink, lightly running the water and rinsing out their mugs. Not wanting to startle him again, Kaiba cleared his throat before he spoke.

“Mokuba has been begging me to go to the carnival. I suppose you can just plan on seeing us there.”

Jounouchi didn’t turn around, but smiled at the box of teabags as he rearranged them and placed them back on top of the fridge.

“Sounds good.”

When he did turn around, Kaiba had already gone, and he heard the muffled open and close of Yuugi’s front door only a few moments later. Only then did he allow himself to grin at the empty kitchen.

~

They’d headed for the carnival first thing after breakfast, stopping to pick up Shizuka on the way. Their group today was a full one - all of their dates from last night had joined their outing except Bakura and Jounouchi’s. There were nine of them in total, and they’d somehow managed to squeeze everyone in two cars on the way there.

After spending most of the afternoon testing out every single thrill ride, Jounouchi found himself scanning the crowd for a tall, scowling pretty boy or a small, black and fluffy tween every time they passed a different food stand. Mostly, he was expecting Kaiba not to show up - but a small part of him was hopeful that they would see him at some point.

“Who are you looking for?”

Jounouchi spun around to face Yuugi, who was skipping along behind him, arm in arm with Anzu.

“I invited Kaiba this mornin’, but I’m sure he won’t show up.”

At this Yuugi made a face. “ _You_ invited Kaiba to the carnival?”

He picked a hangnail on his thumb. “So?”

“I mean, nothing,” Yuugi laughed. “I just didn’t think you would invite him anywhere of your own free will.”

Jounouchi shrugged. “It seemed like he was havin’ a good time last night, and like you said the other day, he doesn’t really have any friends.”

“Two scoops, please!”

A recognizable squeak came from behind one of the booths they were walking by, and Jounouchi immediately tugged on Yuugi’s arm and dragged him around to the other side. Just as he’d thought, Mokuba stood at the front of the line holding a gigantic two scoop cone. Kaiba stood just in front of him, and handed the girl behind the counter a ten dollar bill before turning away without taking his change.

He straightened up at the sight of Jounouchi and Yuugi, and tried not to think too hard about why Jounouchi was clutching Yuugi’s arm.

“Yay!” Mokuba squealed. “Nii-sama told me we were gonna see you here!”

Jounouchi grinned and squatted in front of him. “Need some help with that ice cream?” Mokuba pulled the cone out of his reach and scampered away, giggling.

For the next hour, they wandered through the aisles of shitty carnival games, stopping a few times to try their luck.

Kaiba found himself watching rather intently when Jounouchi tried his hand at a game of darts, where he had to pop six balloons in a row in order to win a stuffed dolphin. After popping five one after the other, everyone had gone completely silent in anticipation, and as he popped the final balloon, Kaiba had to stop himself from cheering with the others while they celebrated his win.

~

At this time of year, the sun set decently early, which meant by six o’clock, they’d turned all the lights on.

“Now that it’s all lit up, we can go on the ferris wheel!” Anzu shouted, breaking into a sprint in the direction of the giant wheel. This year’s was much larger than last year, and they’d all been looking forward to riding it.

Once in line, Anzu craned her neck to look up ahead and see how many could fit in a carriage. She linked her arm through Yuugi’s to claim him as her carriage partner, and Honda and Otogi did the same with their dates, Mokuba following suit with Shizuka, who giggled loudly but stayed in his grip. Bakura stood a good twenty feet away with a giant corn dog. He was never a fan of heights.

Neither Kaiba or Jounouchi was paying much attention until they stepped onto the platform behind their friends, watching them step into each tiny carriage two at a time. Kaiba still hadn’t fully realized what was happening until they’d sat down next to each other, and he felt his ears burst into flames as the carnival worker swung the carriage door shut and locked it.

Jounouchi held back a laugh. He’d figured out they’d be paired up when Anzu and Yuugi had hooked arms.

Kaiba didn’t say anything though, only fidgeting with his own thumb and staring out the grating as the ride started up, abruptly stopping a few feet later so they could load a few more people on. After what happened last night, he didn’t trust his own limbs to do as he said. He didn’t even trust himself not to say anything stupid, as he’d somehow agreed to come to this idiotic carnival this morning as well. Any sort of reasoning behind his recent actions eluded him.

Mostly.

“You havin’ an okay time?”

Being so close to Jounouchi, Kaiba could hear the slight rasp in his voice as he spoke much quieter than usual. As well as that, he could smell the musky, slightly spicy scent of his deodorant, which was suddenly very distracting.

“Hm?”

“Oh, yes, I suppose,” Kaiba muttered quickly. “It’s fine.”

Thankfully, their carriage had enough space for them both to keep pressed to one side, avoiding any physical contact.

“Seems like you’ve been in a good mood these past couple days,” Jounouchi said casually, still looking out the side of the carriage. It jolted forward abruptly, and the motor whirred to life below them, signalling the start of the ride. The pace at which it moved was incredibly slow.

“Nn,” Kaiba grunted back at him. Admittedly, he _had_ been in a better mood both yesterday and today. Usually being around Yuugi and friends raised his blood pressure, but for some reason, he’d felt a bit more at ease.

Jounouchi didn’t need to know that, though.

He flinched suddenly as Jounouchi lightly kicked his shin, and looked up to meet his gaze, as he’d turned back around from staring at the grounds. They were almost to the top by now.

“I know we’re just annoying and shit, and you’re not like, tryin’ to be our friend or anything. But we really do like hangin’ out with you.” He paused. “ _I_ like hangin’ out with you. You’re... neat.”

Kaiba’s heart lurched into overdrive, and he was squeezing his own thumb so hard it was almost numb.

“Thanks.”

Jounouchi turned back around to face the grounds again, but was having difficulty paying attention to the lights.

“Shit, it’s fuckin’ cold,” he muttered, and scooted over to close the distance between he and Kaiba. Their hips pressed together on the cold metal seat, and Jounouchi lined up their feet.

They rode the rest of the way like this, pressed against each other, neither of them daring to move or risk a look in the other’s direction. When it was finally their turn to exit the carriage, they clumsily stumbled out in full view of their entire group of friends. Yuugi and Anzu exchanged a glance after seeing how close together they’d been sitting, but no one else seemed to notice, much to Kaiba’s relief.

~

After another hour or two of wandering around, eating sugar, and riding thrill rides over and over, everyone was finally starting to tire out. Once Anzu had yawned, it spread like a virus throughout their little group, and soon they were all feeling sleepy.

They slowly made their way to the entrance, and by the time they arrived, the gates behind them were being locked up. There were a few groups of teenagers waiting to be picked up, but for the most part, the grounds had emptied out.

They’d arrived in two seperate cars - Honda’s date had offered to drive half of them, and the other half somehow squeezed into Anzu’s tiny beater. The carnival was held in a more rural part of town, so the parking lot was a grass-covered field.

“Hey, where are you parked?”

Jounouchi picked up his pace, trying to catch up to Kaiba and Mokuba who were walking a good 20 feet in front of them. As soon as he finished asking his question, he waited for the snarky reply - he’d immediately realized that Kaiba never parked anywhere. He was driven.

There was no biting response, though. Kaiba did raise an eyebrow to himself, but responded rather plainly.

“We’ll be picked up on the street,” he nodded his head in front of them, where a bumpy stretch of road led out of the field. “The limousine can’t… handle, grass.”

Jounouchi nodded at the ground.

They all walked to the edge of the parking lot together, escorting both Kaiba and Mokuba to the limo that sat idling just past a short concrete divider. Mokuba turned around just as they reached the car and went down the line, giving out hugs to everyone regardless of whether he knew them or not. Even Kaiba paused just before the divider and turned, giving a small wave to a chorus of loud goodbyes before turning around to get in the limo.

Watching Kaiba leave so abruptly, Jounouchi suddenly felt the need to say something. He took a step forward and reached for Kaiba’s arm as he stepped across the short divider, catching him just as he’d gotten one foot on the other side.

His positioning was off, though, and their hands collided. All at once Kaiba whipped around, suddenly thrown off balance by the unexpected physical contact, and stumbled backwards, almost toppling over and into Jounouchi. Without thinking, Jou squeezed his hand and pushed him forward, stabilizing him.

Kaiba yanked his arm away and looked up, wide-eyed, and just as their eyes met and Jounouchi opened his mouth to say something, anything, Kaiba had disappeared into the limo, and all he could do was watch, helpless, as it slowly pulled onto the road.

~

“Wake up,” Anzu hissed. “Jesus, Jou! Get up!”

Jounouchi waved a hand at her and grunted, lifting his face off of his desk only momentarily before going back to dozing.

It was only Wednesday, but this week had felt particularly long.

After the handful of weird encounters they’d had over the weekend, he’d been having trouble getting to sleep on time, too unnerved by his sudden uncertainty surrounding Kaiba. Something had changed, and what made it so hard for him to ignore was the fact that Kaiba had obviously experienced it too. Jounouchi couldn’t recall a time before this weekend that he’d ever seen a genuine emotion cross his face, and not being able to understand what was happening was very unsettling.

“Jounouchi,” Bakura cooed in his ear. “It’s lunch time!”

“Mm.”

They pushed their desks together, using Jounouchi’s as the middle point so he could continue dozing. And just as he’d done two days in a row now, Kaiba stood up immediately upon lunch dismissal and exited the building as quickly as possible.

There was no special reason for this new routine, but after the weekend he was feeling a bit awkward around Yuugi and his friends. He didn’t feel the need to read into it any further than that.

They’d all noticed his weird and unnecessary avoidance of any and all conversations, and happily given him space. However when it finally came to Friday and Kaiba still had yet to say a single word to anyone on school grounds, Yuugi felt the need to stop him on his daily sprint out the door.

“Hey, are you alright?”

He looked up at Kaiba with genuine concern - he had been quiet before, of course, but never _this_ quiet. Not once had he said anything rude to Jounouchi, and he’d somehow even bitten his tongue in the hallway one day when someone accidentally ran into him. He hadn’t even shot them a piercing glare.

Kaiba cleared his throat. “Why do you ask?”

“You just haven’t said much this week, and you seem like you’re avoiding us.”

“Did Jounouchi put you up to this?”

The unexpected mention of his friend made Yuugi furrow his brow, and he frowned. “Wait, what? No? Why -”

“Nothing, it’s fine, and I’m very busy, as usual. Stop reading into things.”

They frowned at each other for a few seconds longer before Yuugi sighed and stepped to the side, finally letting Kaiba out the door.

~

“He asked if _I_ made you ask him?”

“That’s what he said,” Yuugi slurped his ramen, splashing broth all over his shirt. They sat around his kitchen table, having a meal before they decided on a movie to watch.

“I mean… huh,” Jounouchi shrugged and tossed his empty container in the trash under the sink. “Weird.”

~

Over the weekend, Jounouchi had agonized over his recent interactions with Kaiba, and finally made the decision to just apologize to him directly during lunch. He knew he’d come on a little strong with the whole friendship thing, and he just wanted to let him know it was alright to go back to how things were before. That no one was hoping for him to be their friend, or act any differently.

Besides Jounouchi, that is.

But Kaiba didn’t need to know that. Jounouchi hadn’t quite come to terms with it himself, honestly, but he knew he needed to dispel the weird tension that surrounded them both whenever they even came close to interacting.

Case in point, as they walked into class Monday morning, they were both held up at the door, waiting for others to go in front of them. They stood on either side, awkwardly making eye contact only once or twice, observing the ceiling and then the floor over and over while they waited for the doorway to clear out.

By lunch, Jounouchi had become impatient. Kaiba’s grave silence had somehow been even more annoying than his usual snarky commentary these past few days. As soon as the teacher announced lunchtime dismissal, Jou rose from his chair and stood in between the desks in his row, blocking Kaiba from escaping. He sighed.

“Let me through.”

“Can I talk to you quick?”

Kaiba glared at him, now suspicious. “About?”

“Just quick. Nothing weird,” Jounouchi mumbled and stepped aside for Kaiba to pass by so they could talk in the hall.

Once outside the room, Kaiba leaned against a row of lockers and crossed his arms.

“I just wanted to say sorry for overwhelmin’ you this weekend, I know we kinda bullied you into comin’ along both times,” Jounouchi shoved his hands in his pockets. Pulling Kaiba into the hall to have this conversation alone now seemed unnecessary.

“I’m perfectly capable of declining. I came with you because I wanted to, no one forces me to do anything,” Kaiba argued. A sincere apology wasn’t at all what he’d been expecting, and he had no idea how to respond, and defaulted to being defensive.

Jounouchi held up his hands. “Hey, that’s not what I meant. I just wanted you to know you don’t have to like, talk to us now or something. You’ve just seemed super on edge since this weekend, so I wanted to make sure we aren’t like, addin’ any unnecessary stress.”

There was no way for Kaiba to reply rudely now, leaving him frustrated. Genuine conversation was far more difficult than any public appearance.

“Well, you haven’t done anything wrong,” he muttered, straightening back up to his full height. “I’ve just been busy and I just - I need to deal with things on my own.”

Jounouchi cocked his head to the side and he crossed his arms, leaning his weight on one hip. “Why is that?”

“Why is what?”

“Why do you _have_ to deal with things on your own?”

They stared at each other for a few seconds, Kaiba’s eyes darting back and forth between Jounouchi’s, searching for what must be some ulterior motive behind his words. He couldn’t find one, though, and suddenly he pictured Jou sitting next to him on Yuugi’s guest bed, with his bangs pushed up and the cut on his forehead just beginning to scab underneath Kaiba’s thumb.

“You have an asshole father, and so did I,” Kaiba blurted.

Neither of them moved.

“I’m sorry, I had no idea. Shitty thing to have in common,” Jou said quietly.

Kaiba’s eyes stayed on the ground, but he didn’t walk away for some reason. Jounouchi tried to think quickly. He fished in his pockets for any paper and came up with a small receipt from the gas station, from when he’d bought Pocky before school that morning.

“You have a pen?”

Kaiba made a face, but pulled a pen out of his jean pocket and clicked it before handing it to Jounouchi. He watched, still confused, as Jou scribbled something on the back of his crumpled receipt and handed both the paper and pen back to Kaiba.

On the paper was a ten digit phone number, scrawled very poorly, but still legible.

“What is this?”

Jounouchi’s cheeks went pink, and he cleared his throat. “Just my number. I know you wanna get through all your shit alone, but it’s just in case.”

Kaiba had absolutely no clue how to respond. He was both mildly offended and slightly bewildered. With how outwardly cold he was, he didn’t receive a lot of warm gestures.

“I’ll see you, Kaiba,” Jounouchi mumbled and spun on his heel, slipping back through the door to return to lunch.

After internally debating with himself for a good two or three minutes outside the classroom, Kaiba sighed and folded the paper before putting it in his jeans pocket.

Just in case.


	3. movies

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this chapter is super long but I just had to include the absolute best part and the whole scene/reason that I started writing this fic hahaha <3
> 
> listen to I Hate Love by Bnny Rbbt while reading this <3 <3 <3

As the week progressed, neither boy made any mention of their conversation, and by Friday, Jounouchi had mostly accepted that he had done all he could. Befriending Kaiba was a lost cause. Which was fine, it was how things had always been. There was no need to change them.

At least that’s what Jounouchi was telling himself.

After giving Kaiba his phone number, he’d slunk back to his desk and spent the rest of their lunch break silently fretting to himself while he finished his cold noodles. It was like Kaiba had dismantled a wall between them that night in Yuugi’s guest room - and now combined with the slight change in perspective Yuugi had given him, their new knowledge of each others’ backgrounds, and now Kaiba’s apparent unwillingness to be friends, Jounouchi was feeling very discombobulated.

Plus, as much as he didn’t want to admit it, Kaiba was exactly his type. He loved trying to bring people out of their shell, and Kaiba was witty and stubborn, which was so fun to play off of. It also helped that he was tall and toned, with slender, long legs, and his eyes were actually _so_ blue, if you ever actually get close enough to -

“Jou? Two scoops or one?”

“One’s fine,” he mumbled as his mind came crashing back to earth. He took a deep breath and shuffled to the side to wait for his ice cream next to Anzu and Bakura. Now wasn’t the time to think about this. It didn’t matter.

Then his phone buzzed.

~

Less than a mile away, Kaiba sat on a stool in his kitchen with a laptop in front of him, and a now cold cup of tea to his left. On the screen sat a half-finished reply to an email, which he’d given up on a quite a while ago.

These very odd recent circumstances had forced him to rethink the way he saw Jounouchi. He’d never really taken a good look at him, not because he didn’t want to, he’d just never felt the need. In just the past two weeks, though, he’d realized just how cute Jounouchi actually was, and it was giving him horrible anxiety.

Not only was he blonde, he was _tan_ , his smile was so warm, and he was so sincere and genuine. Noticing all of this made Kaiba sick to his stomach. The fact that any of these thoughts had at all formed in his own brain was almost too much to bare.

Almost.

On Monday, Jounouchi had given him his phone number. “Just in case,” he’d said. In case of what, Kaiba wondered? In case he was what, going to kill himself? Going to go crazy from the sheer number of papers he was required to sign every day?

On Wednesday, Kaiba had finally lost the fight against himself and entered the number into his phone. On Thursday night, he’d spent a good twenty minutes formulating what might sound like a normal text message, after spending almost two hours debating with himself over whether or not he should even send a message in the first place.

Befriending Jounouchi just seemed too complicated. For one thing, he’d probably have to admit to their friendship at some point, which sounded horrifying. There was also the fact that Kaiba had proven to himself that he was unable to control his own actions around him. Spending any more time with him alone just seemed like a recipe for disaster.

Which is why on Friday, when he’d pulled his phone from his coat pocket and sat at the counter just thinking, and watching his tea go cold, he had no explanation for the message he suddenly typed out and sent to Jounouchi.

**This is Kaiba. Just wanted to let you know that everything is fine.**

****He hit send before he had a chance to look it over, and after re-reading it several times, decided it was terrible. Somehow, his phone buzzed only a minute later.

**Is that all?**

Kaiba sighed.

**Yes.**

~

Jounouchi looked at his phone in disbelief. After reading Kaiba’s first message about 40 times, he still didn’t really understand what he was going for.

**You’re impossible.**

He thought for only a second before sending another.

**We’re at the ice cream place that’s like super close to you. Come say hi!**

The ball was in Kaiba’s court now. It was the only logical thing he could think to do.

A good fifteen minutes later, just as they’d all finished their ice cream and started to clear their table, the front door jingled and in ran Mokuba, followed by a much less enthusiastic Kaiba.

Yuugi caught sight of him first and made a face at the table. “Kaiba, oh my goodness! Come sit with us!”

Blissfully unaware of the reason they’d even come to get ice cream, Mokuba dragged over two chairs before holding a finger up to Yuugi.

“We’re gonna get the goods first!”

They finished clearing off the table and settled back into their seats. Kaiba and Mokuba returned and sat on the side of the table after a few minutes, and everyone giggled at the two scoop cone in Mokuba’s tiny hand. It covered his entire face.

“What brings you down here?” Anzu asked. She’d noticed Jounouchi and Kaiba’s closeness on the ferris wheel, and combined with seeing Jounouchi grab his hand the same night, she was now curious.

Kaiba shrugged. “I never take Moki to ice cream.”

Mokuba laughed, and they all smiled at his now chocolate covered face. “I don’t know _what’s_ gotten into him, but I’m not gonna argue.”

They finished their ice creams quickly, and as they all stood up from the table, Kaiba cleared his throat.

“Moki and I are going to head home.”

“Nii-samaaaaaaa~!” Mokuba whined, yanking on the bottom of Kaiba’s shirt. “Let’s have a movie night! We never use the big TV, and we have so much space! Please?”

Everyone lit up - they were so used to having movie nights at Yuugi’s house, where the television was less than 24 inches across. No one said anything as Mokuba continued begging.

To Kaiba, the idea of having Yuugi’s entire group of friends over didn’t sound very tempting. On one hand, he had enjoyed their company recently, and being around them gave him a shred of normalcy to cling onto in his very weird life. On the other, though, something awkward could happen, and he’d feel the need to be a decent host, which was always annoying.

Mokuba’s horrible whining finally won out, though, and Kaiba pulled him off of his shirt.

“Fine.” He turned to Anzu, who had driven everyone to ice cream. “You can park your car in the back.”

~

After arriving at Kaiba’s, he’d let everyone loose in the kitchen to dig for snacks and popcorn. He certainly wouldn’t be using any of it anytime soon, so they were welcome to it.

“I’ll get a stack of movies from upstairs,” he told Yuugi as he headed around the corner. He padded his way up the cushy staircase for what seemed like an eternity until he reached the third floor, where just around the corner a very large door was opened to reveal a walk-in closet containing a small library of both movies and video games.

Kaiba took a step inside and grabbed several random stacks of DVDs off the shelves, piling them in his arms until he couldn’t comfortably hold any more.

“Holy shit, do you have every game for the 64?”

Jounouchi’s raspy voice behind him startled him, and he bashed his arm into the side of the closet, cursing to himself under his breath.

“Shit, sorry,” Jounouchi readjusted the top of the stack in Kaiba’s arms. “Hey, thanks for invitin’ us over. Super nice of you.”

“You came all the way up here to tell me that?”

Color bloomed in Jou's face, and he leaned his shoulder against the wall before shrugging halfheartedly.

“I don’t really know why I came up here.”

They stared at each other for a few seconds before Jounouchi straightened up again, taking a tentative step forward.

“Your hair’s in your face,” he muttered, and Kaiba could do nothing but try not to lose his grip on the stack of movies in his hands as Jounouchi reached out and gently tucked a lock of hair behind his ear.

His hand lingered behind Kaiba’s jaw for a second before he suddenly snapped out of it, somehow not tripping as he spun on his heel and raced down the stairs.

“Where’d you go?” Bakura questioned when he got to the kitchen, only half-listening as he sprinkled a variety of seasonings on top of a massive bowl of popcorn.

“Just seein’ if Kaiba needed help,” Jounouchi mumbled. He opened the fridge and stood in front of it, but he couldn’t tell you anything that sat inside.

Kaiba stood upstairs in the same exact position that Jounouchi had left him in. The inside of his bottom lip was practically swollen from being chewed so aggressively, and his arms ached from holding the DVDs in the exact same position for several minutes now.

The sound of footsteps coming up the stairs made his heart thump even harder, somehow, but it was only Mokuba that appeared a few seconds later.

“What are you doing? We need to pick a movie!”

“I- Well, I was getting some to pick from,” Kaiba stammered, shifting the movies in his hands in an effort to return the feeling to his arms.

Mokuba made a face. “What’s your problem?”

“I’m - I’m fine. I just - Jounouchi is trying to, I don’t know -”

“Be your friend?” Mokuba crossed his arms and leaned on his hip. “Honestly, Seto, lighten up a little! They’re always so nice to you.” He rolled his eyes. “Bring the movies downstairs now! The popcorn’s gonna get cold.”

With that, he scampered back down the stairs.

~

Over the next five hours, they watched the first two Die Hard movies.

Kaiba spent over half of that time staring at the side of Jounouchi’s head.

He was sandwiched in the middle of their group, who had spread themselves out on the floor, with his legs swung over Anzu’s lap, and his back propped up on Honda’s shoulder. Their closeness wouldn’t even have registered on Kaiba’s radar two weeks ago, but now it was all he could focus on. Jounouchi didn’t seem to notice at all, making obnoxious comments whenever he could think of them and gasping loudly during anything even mildly violent.

As the credits to the second movie rolled, Kaiba listened to Mokuba’s soft snoring coming from the couch, and when he got up to carry him to bed, he found that everyone else had fallen asleep as well. With plenty of room, and food, to accommodate their entire group, he left them where they were and headed for the kitchen, turning off the television and the lights as he went.

Drinking tea always relaxed him, and the process of making it was just as soothing. He took one of his fancier teabags out and filled the kettle before placing it on the stove and taking a seat at the counter nearby.

There was no question about it now. The way he viewed Jounouchi had been altered, and there was nothing he could do about it. Practically gone were any feelings of hostility towards him; they’d somehow been replaced by fascination, curiosity. A desire to know more. Things that he was definitely not equipped to deal with.

Things that he was completely alone with, as he had no way of knowing how Jounouchi felt. Everything he’d done so far seemed to lack any ill-intent, but were his actions done out of the desire for friendship? Kaiba didn’t think he was bad at reading people, but this was proving to be frustrating.

The kettle started whistling suddenly, and he sighed as he took it off the stove and poured it over his teabag. He set it down as gently as he could and grabbed a sugar cube, tossing it in his cup.

As he swiveled around to grab a spoon, he saw Jounouchi leaned against the side of the doorway.

“How do you keep finding me?” he blurted, frantically going through his actions in the past few minutes and wondering if he’d done anything embarrassing.

Jounouchi shrugged, but didn’t move from his spot in the doorway.

Kaiba had already turned around and was now stirring his tea, hoping to fill the silence with the clinking of his spoon against the cup.

“Are you mad at me?”

Not a question Kaiba had been expecting.

“Why would I be?” He still didn’t look up from his tea.

Jounouchi shrugged again, although Kaiba didn’t see. “Earlier.”

Kaiba’s heart felt like it skipped a beat as he said this one word, but outwardly he kept his composure, somehow even managing to turn and look at Jou.

“I’m not mad.”

Jounouchi squinted at him, trying to read his face but coming up with nothing. He let it be. Not getting yelled at for touching him was already a better reaction than he was hoping for.

“Alright. Well I’m gonna get goin’, don’t wanna upset my dad.”

Kaiba flinched internally and quickly stood up from his chair. “Let me buzz Isono to take you home.”

Jounouchi didn’t protest, and only a minute later, Isono walked into the kitchen with his keys in his hand. Kaiba gave him a small wave, eyes still fixed on his tea, and he was out the door and sitting in a heated limo less than a minute later.

When he got home and opened the front door as quietly as he could, Jounouchi was extremely relieved to find his father already asleep on the couch. He locked the door behind him and quickly made it to his bedroom, taking care to place the chair underneath the knob before collapsing on his bed.

His pocket buzzed, and when he took his phone out, Kaiba had texted him.  
  
**Please let me know when you are home.**

Jounouchi smiled.

**I’m home. :)**

He tossed the phone on his bed and changed into a night shirt, brushing his teeth in the attached bathroom before hopping back into bed. Another text from Kaiba sat in his notifications.

**Thank you.**

He fell asleep smiling.

##### ~

Jounouchi woke up early the next day and after a quick shower, headed straight for the park near his apartment. They usually met up around lunchtime on weekends, but he preferred to get out of the house before his father woke up.

Saturdays were now dedicated to ultimate frisbee - a tradition they’d started a few months ago after they’d all enjoyed a particularly heated three on three match. They used to make fun of their classmates who would play, but now they unashamedly loved it.

Jou spent the two or three hours before the rest of his friends showed up lazing around in the grass and rearranging his deck. By the time everyone had showed up, he had come up with at least a dozen new combinations and was jogging around in circles, itching to start their game.

A few rounds in, they finally stopped to take a short break. They sat in a circle passing around a large jug of water to drink from, and the conversation turned towards their stay at Kaiba’s.

“I still can’t believe he even let us in,” Honda laughed. “He’s been in a better mood lately. Did you do somethin’, Yuugi?”

“I was just gonna say the same!” Otogi chimed in. “I wonder if he’s got a girlfriend finally… took him long enough.”

They all laughed and moved onto a different topic, but Jounouchi twiddled his thumbs and tried not to smile too big. This confirmed it - it wasn’t just him that had noticed a change in Kaiba. It was real. He hadn’t made it up.

He stood up abruptly, and everyone turned to him.

“I’m gonna run to the gas station, anyone want anything?”

Jounouchi listened to their requests and set off for the convenience store just around the corner. When he made it to the edge of the park, he was joined by Anzu, who was still rather out of breath from sprinting around.

“Hey,” she panted.

“Hey.”

They walked in comfortable silence around the corner and into the store, and as they walked out and began organizing their two bags of snacks, Anzu cleared her throat and tried her best to sound casual.

“I know what you’re up to.”

Jounouchi made a face. “What do you mean?”

Anzu stopped walking and turned around to face him before crossing her arms impatiently. “I know you and Kaiba have some… _thing_ going on.”

He felt his face flush and stuck a hand in one of the bags, desperate to look unbothered. “You’re hilarious.”

She rolled her eyes. “Whatever, Jou. I saw you together at the carnival, and I notice him staring at you _all_ the time.”

Jounouchi couldn’t help but perk up at this. Kaiba stared at him? All the time?

“Well if you _did_ like him, I just wanted to suggest that you let him know, and be clear about it. He obviously has no experience with social relationships.” She paused. “And you’re both just being weird.”

She’d started walking again, and Jounouchi plodded along behind her, still feeling rather embarrassed. He’d hardly come to terms with this, and yet somehow Anzu had noticed.

“Well, what would I say?” he asked quietly. “Hypothetically, of course.”

Anzu sighed. “I would tell him that you’re not expecting anything from him, but that you need to get your feelings out in the open.”

Jounouchi scoffed loudly. “That sounds fuckin’ weird.”

“Well it’s not real, so why does it matter?” she sang at him.

He just grumbled to himself. Fucking Anzu.

~

Monday was uneventful.

Jounouchi had considered Anzu’s advice, but there was no way he was just going to announce something right to Kaiba’s face, unprovoked. For one thing, he wasn’t even quite sure how he felt, and what it meant, or what he wanted to do about it. And he was completely clueless as to Kaiba’s feelings, or how he would react.

So the safest thing for him to do was keep quiet.

He didn’t provoke Kaiba throughout the entire day. He never even twisted around in his chair to look at him, not once. Kaiba was trying his damndest not to look at Jounouchi too much either, so their weird avoidance went unnoticed by the other. Anzu, however, couldn’t stand how ridiculous they were both being, and just before the final bell rang, she turned in her chair and stomped on Jounouchi’s foot.

He let out a yelp, but before he could string together some curse words in her direction, she widened her eyes dramatically and jerked her head to the side.

“Talk to him,” she hissed as they stood up to collect their things in the hallway.

At the far end of the hall, Kaiba calmly entered his combination and replaced the two textbooks he’d used earlier in his locker. Feeling rather threatened by Anzu’s glare, Jounouchi tried his hardest to seem casual as he approached him.

“Hey.”

Kaiba only glanced at him, his eyebrows bunched up in confusion. Jounouchi cleared his throat.

“You doin’ anything after school today?”

“Just working,” Kaiba mumbled into his locker. “Why?”

“We were just gonna, uh…” Jou trailed off. Fuck, he hadn’t thought this through. “We were gonna play frisbee at the park again today. You wanna come?”

Kaiba squinted at him as he thought of every possible outcome. He thought of his 12 year old brother trying to give him advice about his social life, or lack thereof.

“Alright.”

Jounouchi was speechless. He’d been expecting to stall for time until finally blurting out something stupid, but this was actually going smoothly.

“I’ll meet you there,” Kaiba muttered again, shutting his locker and risking only one more glance at Jounouchi before heading outside to walk to the park.

As soon as he’d turned the corner, Jounouchi frantically dashed over to where Anzu and Honda stood chatting and waiting for Otogi.

“You gotta come play frisbee,” he pleaded, trying not to sound as desperate as he felt.

Anzu raised an eyebrow. “Why? We’re playing there tomorrow.”

“I can’t, dude,” Honda patted Jou on the shoulder. “Yuugi, Otogi and I are headed to a game right after this.”

Jounouchi turned to Anzu, lacing his fingers together in order to beg properly.

“What, just play the two of us?” she asked, unimpressed.

“No! Kaiba will be there!”

She smirked, and Jounouchi’s face fell as he realized what he’d said.

“Definitely not, then.”

~

Kaiba had only made it a block and a half by the time Jounouchi caught up to him.

“So, I guess there was a change of plans,” he said quietly. “We’re meetin’ up tomorrow. No one can come today.”

Kaiba wondered if there had really been plans in the first place.

“Should I call a limo?”

They continued walking.

“It can drop you off,” Kaiba added after a long silence from Jounouchi.

“Yeah sure, that’s fine.”

He followed Kaiba to the corner of a more residential street, and they stopped to wait for the limousine. Kaiba didn’t take out his phone to check for emails, choosing instead to observe Jounouchi as he kicked several small rocks into a grating on the side of the road. It took less than ten minutes for their ride to arrive, but it was spent in complete silence.

They settled into the limo and Kaiba finally looked through his emails for a minute or two, glancing at Jounouchi every few seconds only to find him staring out the window every time. He wasn't sure he'd ever seen Jou so quiet.

“Are you alright?”

Jounouchi didn’t look away from the window and shrugged. “Totally fine.”

They pulled up outside of his apartment a few minutes later. Over the small intercom, a pleasant bell sound chimed, and Kaiba crossed his arms as he waited for him to exit the vehicle.

He didn’t move, though. They sat there for a full minute, completely still, before Kaiba spoke up again.

“Would you like to come over?”

He didn’t know much about Jounouchi’s home life, but he knew enough to despise his father and to relate to the kind of pain he must have endured.

Jounouchi turned around and covered his mouth with his hand to think for a few seconds, his eyes darting around all over the cabin.

“Sure.”

~

They arrived at Kaiba’s soon after. Walking into the kitchen, Jounouchi almost had the wind knocked out of him by Mokuba, who came barrelling into him from a TV room nearby.

“Is Jounouchi spending the night?!” he shrieked, giddy at the idea of having a guest. “Are we having a sleepover?”

“That’s up to him,” Kaiba purred, stepping past them. “Follow me.”

They climbed the stairs, the same stairs that Jounouchi had crept up only a few days prior, and as they reached the third floor, Kaiba held out his arm.

“All of these are guest rooms,” he explained. “They’ll all have comfortable clothing in the dresser, and whatever else you may need. You’re welcome to spend the night.”

He lingered for only a second, then quietly descended the stairs to make some tea.

Jounouchi chose the room closest to him out of convenience and flopped onto the bed, completely clueless about what he was doing. He didn’t have long to think, though, as Mokuba came bounding into the room and jumped onto the mattress next to him a few seconds later.

“Change into something comfy and come play Mario Kart in the den!” Mokuba hopped off of the bed and pulled open a dresser drawer containing several nice pairs of sweatpants and crewnecks. He tossed a few random things onto the bed and told him to hurry up a few more times before running back downstairs to set up their game.

Freshly changed into what must have been designer sweatpants and a very cushy crewneck sweater, Jounouchi quietly made his way down the stairs, listening for any noise that could tell him just what room he might find Mokuba in.

He ended up being much easier to find than he'd expected. The home theater they’d watched movies in was apparently one of the rooms that Mokuba played video games in as well, and as Jounouchi walked in, he was stunned to find Kaiba stretched out on a leather couch in a pair of his own joggers, both a laptop and a cup of tea in his lap. A second cup sat steaming on the coffee table behind Mokuba.

Kaiba only glanced up at him, and they looked at each other for a split second before Mokuba yelled, “I call YOSHI!” ruining any moment that may have happened.

Over the next four hours, they all sat in the den together, Kaiba doing work things on his laptop (mostly watching, though, if he was being honest) and Mokuba and Jounouchi completing every grand prix. They all stayed rooted to their seats, except for Kaiba, who left periodically to make two more cups of tea.

As the final ceremony played out for the fifteenth time, Mokuba set down his controller and stretched his legs before hopping up and disappearing into a hallway that Jounouchi was fairly certain led to the kitchen. Kaiba closed his laptop and left in the same direction, leaving him with no choice but to follow.

At the far end of the kitchen sat a modest dining table which was currently filled with a small feast. There were six serving platters filled with food in the center of the table, with three empty plates and sets of silverware laid out in front of them.

“What’s this?” Jounouchi asked quietly.

“Dinner,” Kaiba mumbled. His staff had set a third place, just as he’d requested. All he could do now was hope Jou would take it.

Mokuba was in a chair and serving himself before either of the older boys had sat down. Jounouchi was still in shock, but he seated himself and allowed Mokuba to scoop him some potatoes as he took a moment to process.

They ate in relative silence, listening to Mokuba complain about something that happened at school that day. When they’d all finished, Jounouchi stood up and began gathering their empty plates.

Kaiba raised an eyebrow at him and leaned back in his chair. “What are you doing?”

He continued stacking plates. “Just gettin’ the dishes.”

Kaiba snorted. “My staff is paid to clean up. Don’t feel bad about leaving them.”

After finishing his dinner, Mokuba had immediately scurried back to the den, and was looking for a movie to watch - which left them alone in the kitchen, now engaged in a silent staring contest.

“I just feel dumb, like I’m already stayin’ the night here I guess,” Jounouchi blurted, but couldn’t stop himself as he continued. “Feels like I’m just takin’ advantage of you or something.”

Kaiba’s eyes narrowed as Jounouchi spoke. The silence that followed was tense, but when Kaiba broke it, his voice was extremely soft.

“This was offered to you.”

Jounouchi’s face flushed, and he shifted the stack of plates in his arms. “Still feels like I’m just some charity case, I mean -”

“Do I do a lot of charitable things?” Kaiba cut him off, but his voice stayed quiet.

Jou stared at him. “I dunno.”

“I don’t.” Kaiba paused. “I don’t give people things out of pity. I’ve offered you things out of… I don’t know.”

Jounouchi froze as Kaiba frowned to himself for a second.

“Just being friendly,” he muttered, and leaned his elbows onto the table, putting his face in his hand.

The taste of blood exploded in Jounouchi's mouth as he bit down hard on his lip - but the distraction was probably for the best. Most of his strength was suddenly being spent on not grinning in Kaiba’s face.

“Have you seen The Ring?” Mokuba’s voice shrieked from just outside the room, and they both flinched. Neither of them responded quickly enough, and he popped up in the doorway. “Hello?”

Jounouchi shook his head and Mokuba grinned and raced back down the hall to put in the movie.

~

Fifteen minutes later and they all occupied the couch. Kaiba and Jou both sat pressed against their respective sides, with Mokuba unknowingly acting as a buffer in between.

“This is dumb,” he whined and kicked his feet.

Kaiba rolled his eyes and shifted his weight, pressing further into the side of the couch. “It just started.”

Five minutes of grumbling later, Kaiba sighed again.

“Mokuba, would you like to -”

“I’m gonna go play Mario,” Mokuba cut him off and hopped up from the couch. He stopped in the doorway on his way out and added, “Are you coming, Jounouchi?”

“I’ll be there after the movie,” he yelled over the couch. Mokuba rolled his eyes and moved to the other den across the hall.

The Ring turned out to be much creepier than Jounouchi expected. Even Kaiba found himself rather impressed by the plot, but as soon as Mokuba had left the room, it felt like he’d taken all of the oxygen along with him. There was no way for Kaiba to get any closer to his side of the couch, and he was in desperate need of a buffer. A distraction. Something. Anything.

He waited for a natural lull in the movie, but when none came and they were halfway through, he stood up and grabbed the remote in order to pause it.

“I’m going to get some popcorn,” he muttered, and kept his eyes forward as he made his way to the kitchen to pop some.

Somehow he managed to extend the usual three minute process of getting popcorn into one that took just over ten minutes. After spending far too long choosing a seasoning, he picked up the giant bowl and held it in one arm as he stood outside the door to the den for a few seconds, collecting himself before going back inside.

It was extremely dark. It didn’t help that the screen had been paused on a completely black frame, either. His eyes began adjusting to the light as he made his way over to the couch, and he paused and stood next to it, not sure if he was seeing things correctly.

They’d been sitting on opposite sides when Kaiba had left the room, but Jounouchi now sat in the middle, where Mokuba had been before. With a quick glance at the bowl in his hands, Jou reached for the remote and resumed the movie. He settled back into the couch and crossed his arms.

The purpose of getting the popcorn had been to give Kaiba a sort of buffer between them, but it had backfired. He was far more anxious now than he had been when they occupied different sides, but all he could do was try to focus on the movie as he took his seat.

20 minutes went by, and he couldn’t think of the last time he’d eaten so much popcorn. It was like a nervous tic, giving his hand something to do gave him something to focus on. He jumped when Jounouchi abruptly leaned forward to grab the ottoman and pull it forward so he could stretch his legs out. When he laid back into the couch, he reached over and took a handful of popcorn, giving Kaiba what felt like a heart palpitation.

Jou kept grabbing handfuls out of the bowl for a bit, while Kaiba did his best not to stare too blatantly at his hand every time it dipped into his lap. They hadn’t looked at each other once throughout the entire movie, and Kaiba felt like a rubber band only seconds away from snapping.

His limbs acting on their own again, he stretched out his legs and placed them on the ottoman next to Jounouchi’s, doing his best to ignore the shrieking inside his head. Their socked feet pressed together, and Jou froze before turning to look at him, meeting his gaze.

“Kaiba…?”

All at once, he leaned over the popcorn, placed a hand on the back of Jounouchi’s neck, and kissed him.

Jou melted into it immediately, and a few seconds later he’d placed a hand on Kaiba’s chest, fighting back a whine as Kaiba’s hand snaked through his hair. What felt like an hour was over in less than 30 seconds, and Kaiba’s eyes glittered as he pulled away and sat with his hand still in Jou’s hair for a few seconds.

He quickly untangled himself before standing up and walking out of the room.

~

Jounouchi sat in the dark, looking at the last part of The Ring, but not watching. Not paying a single iota of attention. It felt like he had just finished running a mile with how fast his heart was beating.

His adrenaline was still pumping as he stood up and made his way to the kitchen, both hoping and not hoping to see Kaiba making a cup of tea. All he found was Mokuba, who was spreading chocolate on toast.

Jounouchi cleared his throat. “Where’s your brother?”

Mokuba didn’t look up from his toast, but made a face. “Like I know.”

Jou sighed and headed for the stairs.

After a ten minute power walk down every hallway Jounouchi could find, he finally came across a room at the far end of the third floor with the light on. Before he could talk himself down, he tapped on the door and gently pushed it open.

Kaiba sat in the middle of a king-size bed, his legs criss crossed and his face in his hand. He’d come up here to think while his own adrenaline rush wore off, and as Jounouchi came walking in, he didn’t lift his head, only looking in his direction.

“Hey, don’t talk for a sec.”

Jounouchi paused to see if Kaiba would object before continuing.

“I just wanted to say that I think I’m like, starting to have feelings for you, I guess. Sorry, I know that’s fucking weird, if you’re not interested, that’s fine, I just like… needed you to know.”

Kaiba still said nothing.

“And thanks for lettin’ me stay here, I’ll be gone pretty early in the morning ‘cause I have to stop by my place before I head to school.”

They stared at each other for a bit longer before Jounouchi finally turned around and left the room.

Kaiba let out his breath.


	4. appearances

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> please listen to both 'the only exception' and 'ezra's interlude' on repeat while reading this, just as i did while writing it. <3 (seriously do it)
> 
> this is like my fav thing i’ve ever written, i hope u like!!!!

The first bell rang at 7:30, and the late bell at 8:00. Kaiba’s usual alarm didn’t even have time to go off; he woke up on his own at 5:30 sharp, immediately thrown back into a state of disarray as soon as he remembered the last night’s events.

He briefly considered skipping school altogether, but decided that would be ridiculous. He wasn’t a coward. It would be easier to just talk to Jounouchi directly this morning and avoid any more misunderstandings.

At least, that’s what he told himself he would do as he got dressed and headed downstairs to make tea. He sat in the kitchen and tapped his foot on the tile for the next hour, managing to make and drink three full cups while he waited for Jou to wake up.

When it was 7:10 and he still hadn’t made an appearance, Kaiba headed upstairs to check if he was still asleep, as there was no way he was going to leave him here alone. Silently padding up the stairs, he dipped into the only room with the door left slightly ajar.

Clearly, Jou had left before Kaiba even woke up. The bed was made rather sloppily, but besides that, there was no way to tell he had even been here. Kaiba tiptoed into the attached bathroom and found a white v-neck undershirt crumpled beneath the sink. It took literally every ounce of willpower for him not to smell it as he picked it up, but instead of tossing it in the hamper, he made a stop by his own room on the way downstairs.

He’d wash it later.

~

That day at lunch, Otogi made Jou switch seats with him in order to show Honda a new magazine that he’d just ordered, leaving Jou in perfect view of Kaiba at his desk behind them.

It was impossible not to look at him, and after glancing up to see him staring back multiple times, Jounouchi was becoming rather fidgety. He couldn’t tell you what their group was talking about, all of his focus was being spent on looking anywhere but behind Otogi.

“Dude, are you okay?”

Honda made a face at Jou from across the table, but he didn’t notice, digging deeper into his bento. They all noticed him spacing out now, and Yuugi snapped a finger in front of his face, making him flinch.

“What?” Jou snapped, feeling his ears go red.

“You doin’ okay, space cadet?” Otogi laughed, the rest of their friends laughing with him. An involuntary glance at Kaiba confirmed he was watching this entire exchange, and Jounouchi squished his face in his hand.

“I’m fine, you fuckin’ assholes,” he grumbled, and Honda held his hands up in innocence.

“Damn, cool your jets turbo,” he laughed.

They all flinched when Kaiba’s chair screeched behind them, and he rose from his desk, his laptop still open on top. Anzu and Bakura pressed against their desks as he strode past them and out their homeroom door, slamming it rather loudly as he disappeared into the hall.

Everyone at their table exchanged looks except Jounouchi, who stared intently at the ball of rice he was picking apart.

~

“Hey, talk to me.”

Anzu’s booties clacked on the linoleum as she kept up with Jou on the walk to his locker.

“About what,” he deadpanned.

They stopped outside his locker, and she leaned against the wall next to him and rolled her eyes.

“Seriously, Jou. I know you won’t talk to any of them about this,” she said quietly. “I won’t tell them anything.”

Jou slammed his locker and glared at her. “If I’m going to talk to you, you seriously can’t tell _anyone._ You can’t tell Yuugi.”

She straightened up and smiled, holding up three fingers.

“Scout’s honor, Jou. I promise.”

He glared at her before turning on his heel and heading outside. They walked to the edge of the soccer field and sat down.

“I kind of told him what you said,” Jou mumbled, picking apart a clump of grass in his lap.

Anzu leaned back on her hands. “And?”

Jou snorted. “And nothin’. I left before he woke up and haven’t talked to him since.”

“You’re ridiculous,” she scolded. “You can’t avoid him and expect something to happen.”

“I’m not avoiding him!” Jou complained. “I don’t see him comin’ to me, why do I have to be the one to do something?”

“You have to remember who it is you’re dealing with,” she reminded him. “I’m honestly amazed that you got away with touching him at all. If that had been Honda or Otogi, they’d have a cast on their arm.”

“Yeah, I guess…” Jou trailed off. “An’ he kinda kissed me.”

Anzu’s mouth fell open and she sat up and smacked Jounouchi in the chest. “What the fuck? Lead with that next time!” She snorted. “And you’re complaining that he isn’t coming to you?”

“Okay, Jesus, sorry,” he mumbled. “Still seems like it’s kinda in his court now. I talked to him last, an’ he didn’t even say anything after… it happened.”

“Just say something super normal to him, see how that goes,” Anzu suggested. “Sounds like he’s just nervous.”

Jounouchi considered this, but was interrupted by another smack on the knee.

“Hey,” she smiled. “Don’t think too hard.”

~

At lunch the next day, Jounouchi carefully peeled the foil off of his dark chocolate orange and split up the slices. Everyone happily took one, leaving three behind, and he picked one up and swiveled around in his chair.

He scooted the two feet back to Kaiba’s desk, leaning an arm on it once he was close enough. Kaiba looked up from his phone and bento, chopsticks frozen with a bite of rice held between them.

“Chocolate orange?”

Kaiba’s eyes darted back and forth between Jounouchi and the chocolate for a few seconds before he slowly set down his chopsticks and gingerly took it from his hand. Having expected a much worse reaction, Jou flashed him a smile before turning around and scooting back to their table, where a very wide-eyed Anzu sat across from him.

~

The following day, Jou waited until lunch was almost over before turning around in his chair completely, straddling the back. He again scooted back to Kaiba’s desk, his chair making contact and startling Kaiba into looking up at him.

“Hey,” Jou said shakily, clearing his throat immediately after.

Kaiba just looked at him, his face completely unreadable.

“I uh - I think I left my shirt at your place when I stayed over.”

Kaiba’s face went pink, and he lowered his chopsticks.

“I’ll have to ask if they found anything,” he muttered, shifting in his seat uncomfortably.

Warmth bloomed in Jou’s stomach watching Kaiba’s stoic mask slip, even for just this second, and he couldn’t stop himself from grinning at him. They made eye contact, and Jou bit his lip before flipping around in his chair and returning to his friends, his hands shaking uncontrollably.

~

On Thursday he asked Yuugi what he thought of inviting Kaiba to frisbee the following day, and was met with enthusiasm, just as he’d expected. As school ended and they all began filing out to their lockers, Jounouchi hovered next to Kaiba for just a few seconds.

“We’re playin’ frisbee tomorrow if you wanna come,” he said as casually as he could manage. Kaiba glanced in his direction and, desperate to increase his chances of coming, Jou blurted, “Yuugi really wants you to come.”

“Maybe,” Kaiba muttered, glancing at him one last time before splitting off and heading to be picked up.

 

That evening, Jou emerged from his room for a few minutes to cook himself some ramen when he was rudely interrupted by his father getting home from work. Cursed with terrible timing, he immediately turned off the stovetop and headed straight for his room.

Hearing him in the kitchen, his father lunged and caught him by the wrist as he walked by. Jou jerked his arm away.

“You fightin’ back now?” he slurred, glaring at Jounouchi.

“Fuck off,” Jou grunted and reached for his door, but his father grabbed his shoulder.

“What the fuck did you just say to me?”

He shoved Jounouchi hard against the wall and brought the bottle in his hand down next to him, shattering it right next to Jou’s face. Jou hesitated for a second and his father swung at him, catching him on the jaw before stumbling.

As his father crumpled against the back of the couch, Jou yelled a string of curse words and quickly slunk into his room before shoving a chair under the door and pressing his own weight against it, listening for his father to give up and leave.

Half an hour later, Jou had to assume he’d just fallen asleep where he’d landed. There was no way he was leaving his room now, so he headed into the attached bathroom and ran ice cold water out of the sink, dipping his jaw underneath the tap.

The water ran clean a few minutes later, and he dabbed at his wound with a towel before collapsing onto his bed and curling up, still in his jeans.

 

The next morning, his cut had scabbed up decently. It wasn’t bleeding, but it was definitely noticeable. He sighed and mussed up his hair in an effort to distract from it, unsuccessfully convincing himself that it looked fine before heading out the door.

Throughout the day and at lunch, no one said a word about the cut. They knew by now not to say anything when Jou had any cuts or bruises - he’d made it clear that it was something he needed to deal with alone, and was admittedly very defensive when questioned.

Kaiba said nothing all day, and neither did Jounouchi. He held his head in his hand most of the day, attempting to keep it concealed and successfully hiding it from Kaiba.

As he followed Anzu out of their homeroom to her locker, he suddenly remembered their plans to play frisbee. He turned around to find Yuugi approaching Kaiba across the hall.

“Kaiba, are you coming today?” he chirped up at him. “Jounouchi said he invited you, but he didn’t say if you were coming or not.”

“I have nothing else to do,” Kaiba mumbled, and though it wasn’t a joke, Yuugi chuckled below him. He launched into a rant about some new cards and followed Kaiba out the doors, leading the way to the park to wait for the others.

Jounouchi watched them leave and turned back to the rest of the group. They waited for Bakura to finish up at his locker before making the short walk to the park.

Half a block away, they could see Yuugi doing cartwheels in the grass, and standing just beside him leaned against a tree was Kaiba, doing an exceptional job of brooding. As soon as he noticed them, Yuugi sprinted over and joined their circle.

Far too aware of the cut on his face, Jounouchi didn’t even turn towards Kaiba. Yuugi beckoned him over though, and Jou tried his best to angle himself away from his view.

“Let’s pick teams!” Yuugi chirped.

Kaiba sat down just beside them. “I don’t know how to play. I’ll watch.”

Yuugi gave him a thumbs up. “Okay, Kaiba’s watching. I pick Anzu!”

Several rounds went by, Kaiba sitting on the sidelines and blatantly staring at Jounouchi. With no risk of being noticed, he was shameless.

Finally they all stood around gasping for air, eventually crawling over to Kaiba and collapsing in the grass surrounding him.

“Jou, would you go get me a mineral water?” Anzu panted and fished in her pocket for enough money, finding it and tossing it at him.

He rolled his eyes. “Anyone else want anything?”

After listening to their requests, Jounouchi jogged to the store, slowing as soon as he was around the corner. There were several people in front of him in line, and by the time he had found everything and paid, it had been almost ten minutes.

He stopped to let the door slide open as he shoved all their candy in his pockets, but froze when he saw Kaiba standing on the sidewalk outside.

Taking a deep breath, he stepped through the doors and cleared his throat.

“You need somethin’? I already bought everything, but you can-”

“Are you alright?” Kaiba interrupted, turning to face him directly. His eyebrows knit together, and he looked concerned, catching Jou completely off guard.

“What?” he stammered. “I’m fine, what do you mean?”

Moving even more softly than usual, Kaiba raised a hand to Jou’s chin and took it in his thumb and finger, tilting his head very gently to the side.

“You have another cut.”

Jounouchi instantly felt his face burst into flames, and he looked down at the M&Ms in his hand.

“You don’t need to worry about that,” he muttered, almost whispering.

Kaiba took his hand away and crossed his arms, but said nothing, still staring at the cut on Jou’s jaw.

“I’m fine, seriously,” Jou babbled after a few seconds of silence, distracted by his skin burning where Kaiba had touched him.

More silence followed, proving to be too much for Jounouchi to handle, and he sighed before walking past Kaiba and heading back to the park, his heart pounding. He’d only been walking for a few seconds when Kaiba appeared next to him, matching his stride.

They were back at the park in less than five minutes, but in that time Jou’s hands had gone completely clammy. He passed out everyone’s candy and wiped his hands on his jeans before sitting down on the grass and tuning into their conversation.

“Are we still watchin’ shit at your house tonight?” Otogi asked, ripping open his gum with his teeth.

“Grandpa’s out of town until Tuesday, so that’s totally fine,” Yuugi shrugged.

“Shit, we can bring alcohol!” Honda yelled, stretching across the circle to sock Otogi in the shoulder.

Yuugi rolled his eyes. “Whatever.” He turned to Kaiba. “Kaiba, feel free to come tonight! We’ll just be watching scary movies. And drinking, if you like that sort of thing.”

“I was just about to call my ride,” Kaiba muttered, standing up and shoving his hands in his pockets. “But I’ll see about stopping by.”

They all waved far too enthusiastically at Kaiba’s back as he spun around and strode off, keeping up with his classic unceremonious goodbyes.

~

Later that night, they’d all gathered at Yuugi’s and were crowded around the coffee table as their first scary movie came to an end.

They played flip cup for a good twenty minutes until multiple shots had been taken, and Anzu finally stood up to put in a new movie. After pressing play, she moved to the table behind the couch and sat down, shuffling the deck of cards that sat on top.

Jounouchi abandoned the new round of shots Otogi was pouring and joined her at the table. She counted through 26 cards and handed him the other half of the deck before flipping a card onto the table, starting a game of war.

“How are you feeling?” she asked as Jou flipped over a card of his own and won, taking both.

He shrugged. “I’m fine.”

They quietly played war for a few minutes, listening to their friends yell at each other on the other side of the couch. Anzu was the only one to hear the quiet knock on the front door and immediately sprang up from her seat and grinned at Jounouchi.

“Sounds like _someone_ is here,” she wiggled her eyebrows at him. As she opened the front door, they all turned to look at Kaiba standing on the porch with a rather large bottle of whiskey in one hand.

He said nothing as he walked in, but the boys all cheered at the sight of fancy alcohol.

“Kaiba!” Yuugi squeaked, running up to him and giving him a little side hug, one that was completely unreciprocated. “So glad you decided to stop by! Come in!”

Kaiba let him lead them back to the front of the couch, where he gracefully took a seat in an armchair to the side, curling his legs up onto the chair like a cat. From where he sat, Jounouchi could see him from the side, but did his best not to stare.

Anzu took her seat across from him and swept up the cards to reshuffle, not saying a word. After a few minutes, Otogi successfully goaded Kaiba into taking two shots. Having to listen to their giggling and acknowledge that Kaiba was here at Yuugi's, exchanging banter only a few feet away suddenly seemed overwhelming, and Jou stood up from his chair.

He held up a hand to Anzu, who shot him a look of concern, and headed for the bathroom.

In Yuugi’s house, the nicer bathroom was on the second floor, connected to Yuugi’s room. Jou slunk up the stairs and once he was inside, he closed the door and pressed his back against it, sliding to the floor.

A few deep breaths later, he sighed and reached under the sink for a washcloth. He stood up slowly and wet it, tilting his head in the mirror to get a better look at the cut on his face. Pressing the cloth to his jaw, he winced, but the cool water soothed the burn after a few seconds.

He stood like this, pressing his hand to his face and staring at himself in the mirror, for a few minutes. Obviously he would have to return to the den, but he was putting it off for as long as possible.

A noise outside the door startled him, and he raised his head in alarm. He hoped to god it was Anzu, but when only silence followed the creak of the stairs, he knew exactly who it was.

Left with no other option, Jou unlocked the door and nudged it with his foot. It slowly swung open and bonked into the wall, revealing Kaiba standing just outside the bathroom, staring at the cloth in Jounouchi’s hand.

He felt his face flush and dropped the cloth on the counter before turning around and leaning against it.

“Hi,” Jou mumbled.

“Hi.”

Unsure of what was happening, Jounouchi stayed quiet.

“Is your cut alright?” Kaiba asked quietly, taking a step forward in order to lean against the doorframe.

Jou continued staring at the shower curtain, but he knew Kaiba was looking at him. He sighed, annoyed that he kept bringing up his injury.

“Yup. Still fine.”

Kaiba said nothing and crossed his arms. He’d followed Jou up here, but that was about as far as he’d gotten in terms of a plan.

After a long, rather tense pause, Jou stood up from the counter and stepped towards the door, now only interested in leaving the room as quickly as possible. Feeling Kaiba staring at the cut on his face was making his ears hot, and he felt stupid.

Kaiba straightened up and filled the doorframe, blocking him.

“C’mon,” Jou muttered at the floor, becoming more embarrassed by the second.

“Someone told me that you shouldn’t deal with everything alone.”

At this Jou looked up at him, startled. After gaping at him for a few seconds, he scoffed and shoved his hands in his pockets.

“This is completely different,” he argued.

“How’s that?”

Kaiba’s voice was calm, only contributing to how flustered Jou was becoming.

“‘Cause it’s my shit to deal with. No one else’s. I’m the only one who should worry about it.”

“Unfortunately, you don’t get to decide that.”

Jou’s mouth fell open again and he looked back and forth between Kaiba’s eyes.

“What are you saying?”

Kaiba shifted his weight to his other foot.

Jounouchi held up a hand in waiting, now getting frustrated. “Why’d you come up here?”

“Because you came up here.”

This caught Jou completely off guard, and his hand fell back to his side.

Eyes darting back and forth between Jou and the floor, Kaiba turned around and started toward the staircase.

“Hey,” Jou stepped out of the bathroom and reached for him, nudging his shoulder.

Kaiba stopped, but didn’t turn around.

Jou stared at his back for a few seconds. His legs felt like they were numb, but he somehow closed the distance between them, stepping around Kaiba and standing in front of him. As they both stared at the floor, Jounouchi took a step forward, making Kaiba look at him.

“What are you-”

“I have no fucking idea what I’m doing anymore,” Jou mumbled and snaked a hand around Kaiba’s waist, pushing himself up on his tiptoes in order to kiss him.

Kaiba responded instantly, pressing a cold hand to the back of Jounouchi's warm neck. His fingers snaked through Jou’s hair, and they both opened their mouths, melting into what they’d been thinking about for the past two weeks.

After a minute or two, Kaiba lifted his head to breathe, and Jou dipped under his jaw and kissed below his ear. When Kaiba didn’t move, he pulled away and looked at him.

“Sorry,” Jou whispered, trying his hardest to commit the feeling of Kaiba’s hand in his hair to memory.

Kaiba only smoldered down at him as he untangled his hand from the back of his head. Jou didn’t move his arm from his waist, too captivated by him to even dream of letting go. He drummed his fingers against the small of Kaiba’s back, and smiled as Kaiba closed his eyes.

“Jounouchi!” Yuugi’s voice echoed through the stairwell and they both turned sharply, but to Jou’s surprise, Kaiba still didn’t move away.

Jou turned back to face him, trying his hardest to read his expression.

“We have to go downstairs,” Kaiba muttered, nodding his head in the direction of the stairs.

“I don’t really want to,” Jou mumbled, smiling as the corners of Kaiba’s mouth twitched. He gently grabbed Jou’s arm from behind his back and pulled out of his grip.

“You first,” he said as he let go, gliding over to the bathroom door and leaning against the frame again.

Jounouchi stood frozen for a few seconds. It felt like if he looked away, this would never happen again.

“Jou-NOUCHI!” Honda screamed from downstairs, and Jou sighed before putting his hands in his pockets and turning around.


	5. field trips

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> welcome to fluffopolis population me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
> 
> PS listening 2 pin by grimes while writing = this

True to character, Isono showed up less than ten minutes after being paged, and Kaiba was finally on his way home. He’d been out far longer than anticipated. After his encounter with Jounouchi, they’d headed downstairs one after the other, and Kaiba had somehow been bullied into playing card games for a good hour, his anxiety only building the entire time.

He was out of the car before Isono had a chance to turn it off, immediately heading through the garage and into the kitchen. Once inside, he shed his boots quickly and went flipping through the cabinets for a cup. As he inhaled a full glass of water, the familiar sound of Mario Kart drifted through the hall, and Kaiba set his glass in the sink before going to investigate.

Mokuba sat sideways in a recliner pulled right up to the television. While this would normally be amusing, it was almost two in the morning, and Kaiba was in a terrible mood.

“Mokuba.”

“Oh hey, Seto,” he replied without taking his eyes from the screen.

“It’s almost three in the morning.”

Mokuba only glanced at him. “I’ll stop after this.”

Too tired to deal with him, Kaiba sighed and sat on the couch, massaging his temples. Mokuba’s race ended shortly after, and he set the controller down before repositioning himself to face Kaiba, putting his head in his hands.

“How was the party? I’m glad you made up with Jounouchi.”

Kaiba opened his eyes. “Excuse me?”

“The other day you were like, freaking out about it, so I just meant-”

“What do you think we have to ‘make up’?” Kaiba cut him off.

Mokuba’s mouth hung open for a few seconds before he answered cautiously. “I mean, you’re like, friends…?”

“I am not friends with Jounouchi, Mokuba.”

“Why are you being so weird about this?” Mokuba asked, positioning himself farther away.

Kaiba stood up from his place at the couch. “I do _not_  have _friends_.”

“It’s a good thing, you’re supposed to -”

“I am _not._ Friends. With _any_ of them,” Kaiba spat.

All Mokuba could do was glance around nervously as Kaiba took a step forward and pointed at him.

“I am NOT. **FRIENDS.** With ANY. OF THEM,” he yelled, and to punctuate this statement, he stared daggers at Mokuba for the next ten seconds before finally straightening up and stomping out of the room.

Mokuba waited a few minutes to see if he would return before finally going back to Mario Kart.

~

“After last night, I feel like you’re the one who should say something to him,” Anzu shrugged as she squeezed another Hi-Chew out of the wrapper and handed it to Jounouchi.

“I completely disagree,” he mumbled, popping it into his mouth and biting down.

They chewed for a bit, and Jounouchi looked up to find Anzu staring at him.

“Hm?”

“I just can’t believe the stuff you’ve told me,” she laughed. “I seriously can’t picture him being so… romantic.”

Jounouchi rolled his eyes. “Hardly romantic. More like frustrating.”

“I know, I know,” she conceded. “Just, out of everyone in the world, it makes sense that he ends up liking you, you know?”

“Nah, I don’t.”

“You’re very lovable,” she said quietly, reaching out to softly boop his nose.

“Get outta here,” Jounouchi waved a hand at her. “You gotta help me figure out what to do.”

More Hi-Chews were dispensed and chewed, and a few minutes later Anzu lifted her head suddenly.

“Doesn’t he still have your shirt?”

“I think so.”

“So go to his house and get it back!” Anzu squealed, thrilled with herself.

“I guess that could work,” Jounouchi mused, holding out his hand for another Hi-Chew.

~

The walk to Kaiba’s was relatively short, but by the time Jounouchi arrived, his heart was threatening to beat out of his chest.

He booped the now familiar buzzer and waited for the gate to open. After waiting what felt like forever, he pressed it a second time. The gate finally opened after another minute of waiting, and Jounouchi jogged up to the door.

Mokuba pulled it open and poked his head out of the narrow opening, looking at him expectantly.

After a beat of silence, he looked around, confused. “Is your brother here?”

Mokuba opened his mouth but hesitated before looking at the ground. “I’m… not sure where he is right now.”

“Can I come in? It’s fuckin’ cold,” Jou mumbled and pushed his way past Mokuba, who felt too stuck in the middle to tell him to leave. “Is he in like, a meeting or something? I can come later.”

The door to the kitchen swung open suddenly, and Kaiba stepped into the entryway, currently on his way upstairs. At the sight of Jounouchi standing next to Mokuba and the open front door, he froze with his mug of tea halfway to his face.

Jou smiled at him. “Hey, I was just coming to grab what I left over here.”

Mokuba immediately bolted up the stairs, uninterested in being present during an argument.

“Why are you here?” Kaiba asked quietly, lowering his tea and frantically looking around in search of a place to set it.

Jounouchi’s eyebrows knit together. “What? I just said, I was gonna grab -”

“What are you doing? You think you can just come over here whenever you want?”

“I - what?” Jou stammered.

“We’re barely classmates, let alone friends,” Kaiba continued, taking a few measured steps towards the stairs. “Why would you think you can just show up unannounced?”

Jounouchi’s mouth hung open and he gaped at Kaiba, completely bewildered by what was happening. After glaring back for a few seconds, Kaiba disappeared up the stairs, and as quickly as he left, he was back, tossing Jounouchi’s balled up white shirt at him from the top of the steps.

Jou reacted quickly enough to catch it, and stared as Kaiba turned to head back upstairs.

“What the hell, Kaiba?”

He stepped onto the stairs and climbed to the first landing, stopping abruptly to face Kaiba who stood only a few steps up.

“Get out of my house,” he said firmly.

“Why?” Jounouchi asked in disbelief.

“Get the _fuck_ out of my house,” Kaiba repeated, closing his eyes in order to keep his voice steady.

“You’re seriously doing this,” Jou said quietly.

Kaiba ground his teeth and opened his eyes to glare directly at Jounouchi. “I don’t know what you think you’re talking about.”

Jounouchi watched him disappear out of view down the hall, flinching when a door slammed hard enough to shake the stairs.

~

The following few weeks, Kaiba didn’t make a single appearance at school. This bothered virtually no one, and with how close together they were required to sit, Jounouchi was thrilled by his absence.

Following his unpleasant visit that Saturday, Jounouchi had gone to the gym for the first time in months, and since then he'd actually managed to start a routine and stick to it. His father was fired from his job, and with the amount of time he was home, Jounouchi would do anything to get out of the house.

Being gone almost all day wasn’t enough to completely avoid him, though. Several times, Jounouchi had come home and been practically chased into his room. He’d stepped on broken glass twice now, and one morning was forced to show up to school with freshly cut knuckles after being assaulted while getting ready.

It was at that point that Anzu finally felt the need to say something, and she waited until they were leaving the classroom to pull him aside.

“Are you okay?”

Jounouchi sighed. “Totally fine. Just had a rough morning.”

She made a face. “You were _bleeding_ earlier.”

“Rough morning,” Jou repeated, shrugging.

“I worry about you," she said softly.

“I know. You shouldn’t.”

“You never even told me what happened with, you know,” she trailed off, gesturing with her hand.

“Yeah. I know.”

Taking the hint, Anzu took a deep breath. “Alright. Well please let me know if you need _anything_ , okay? I love you.”

Jou picked at a bandaid on his wrist. “Love you too.”

~

Kaiba had completely tuned out the gate buzzer at this point, so when it rang, he paid it no mind at all. A minute later, it buzzed a second time, again going unnoticed. It wasn’t until whoever was outside buzzed it six times in rapid succession that Kaiba finally raised his head in annoyance.

“Mokuba?” he yelled into the empty hall.

The buzzing started up again, and Kaiba sighed to himself as he stood up from his desk and headed down the hall.

The camera next to the door showed Anzu standing directly outside the gate, looking incredibly irritated. She had her backpack with her, and Kaiba assumed he understood what was going on and pressed the button to let her in.

As she stepped onto the porch, he opened the door.

“If you’re here to deliver schoolwork, I don’t need it.”

Anzu snorted. “Yeah, no. I don’t give a shit about your schoolwork.”

Kaiba waited for her to clarify.

“I don’t know _what_ happened, but you need to stay away from Jounouchi,” she went on, getting progressively louder as her temper flared. “He’s already going through a lot, and the last thing he needs is another person in his life who’s going to treat him like garbage.”

Kaiba shifted uncomfortably. “I don’t know what you mean.”

“Tch. Don’t be ridiculous.”

Kaiba opened his mouth, but Anzu cut him off before he could speak.

“Seriously, _fuck_ you and your pride. I don’t give a shit, and I would never dream of telling anyone. I have too much _respect_ for Jounouchi to do that to him. He deserves so much better,” she spat, immediately turning on her heel as she finished her speech and marching off the porch, leaving Kaiba shell-shocked in the doorway.

~

Another two weeks passed uneventfully at school, the entire time spent dreading their yearly camping trip that always seemed to come out of nowhere.

That Friday, they gathered outside their homeroom building at 5:30. It was dark outside, and everyone was still groggy, falling asleep against their luggage and each other.

“Why the fuck do they make us do this _every_ year?” Honda complained.

“I think it’s fun,” Otogi teased, waggling his eyebrows as he dodged Honda’s fist. “They never pay attention to who’s in what cabin.”

“You’re disgusting,” Anzu scolded, tossing a clump of grass at him.

“You gotta be fuckin’ kidding me,” Jounouchi mumbled underneath his breath, and Anzu turned to see what he was looking at.

Across the parking lot, next to their bus stood Kaiba, with their usually intimidating instructor at his side. Next to Kaiba, though, he looked short and pudgy.

“This is absurd,” Kaiba argued. “This has never been required before.”

“Actually, it has,” their instructor said quietly. “Getting it waived was quite a process, and I’ve been instructed to inform you that it will not be permitted a third time.”

Kaiba seethed quietly for a few seconds before finally sighing. “Fine. I will need to have a suitcase brought to me.”

“We will gladly wait,” their instructor smiled.

Grumbling to himself, Kaiba stomped to the middle of the parking lot and called Isono to request a suitcase with some clothing and necessities. Their instructor walked over to where the rest of the class sat and clapped his hands together.

“Let’s go ahead and load up the bus,” he said cheerfully. “As soon as our final piece of luggage is here, we’ll head out.”

In order to secure the back of the bus, Honda and Anzu both stood up quickly and booked it across the lot. Settling in, Anzu paired up with Jounouchi for moral support and sat on the left in the last seat, with Honda and Otogi across the aisle. Behind Honda and Otogi was the furthest seat in the bus, which Yuugi took.

Taking notice of Yuugi sitting alone, Anzu leaned across the aisle.

“Are you saving a seat for Kaiba?”

He laughed. “For Bakura!”

“Bakura couldn’t come,” she explained. “He’s sick.” They both turned at the sound of Kaiba’s voice up front, and Yuugi shrugged.

“I guess it is for Kaiba then!” he chirped, standing up and waving up front. “Kaiba!”

As Anzu leaned back into her seat, she placed a sympathetic hand on Jounouchi’s leg. He grunted in irritated acknowledgement from his spot pressed against the window, and she lovingly squeezed his knee.

~

Half an hour later, Kaiba was asleep against the window, and Yuugi and Anzu sat leaned into the aisle with their knees bumping together, aggressively flirting.

“Let me out,” Jou mumbled, pressing into Anzu. “Gotta pee.”

Anzu stood up and he staggered down the aisle and into the small attached bathroom.

Walking back, he stopped in front of where he’d been sitting, where Anzu now sat in Yuugi’s lap.

“Really?”

Yuugi looked up at him and widened his eyes, silently begging for permission to stay. Jounouchi groaned and turned to face Kaiba, who was somehow stoic even while asleep against the window.

He took the seat next to him, leaning as far into the aisle as he comfortably could. Before long, the rhythmic rocking of the bus and the hushed conversations of his classmates proved to be too soothing, and he eventually dozed off.

Several hours had passed when their teacher finally came over the intercom.

“We’ll be arriving in 15 minutes! Let’s try to wake up, everyone!”

Kaiba stirred against the window, reaching up to rub his eyes and check the time. He vaguely felt a pressure against his side, but what immediately set off alarm bells was the sudden overwhelming smell of spicy deodorant combined with musk.

He sat up abruptly and pulled himself as close to the bus as he could, squirming as Jounouchi slid down on top of him. He shoved him off with his shoulder, but Jou only shifted in his sleep and crossed his arms, settling back into his side of the seat.

Kaiba’s heart pounded as he stared at him, and he took a few deep breaths to calm down.

Following his outburst, Kaiba had thrown himself into his work. It was a definite coping mechanism. Use all of his energy and mental capacity on work-related things during the day, and there was no room for fretting or worrying at night. One cup of tea, and he’d be in bed by 9.

Then Anzu showed up and after trying to push her words out of his mind for a few days, he’d finally argued with himself enough to acknowledge that he was an asshole. This was all completely uncharted territory for him, and he was overwhelmed and embarrassed and ended up lashing out.

It was over, though. He’d been the one to finish it. There was no point in agonizing over it anymore. There was nothing he could do, and there was nothing that needed to be done. This weird thing had happened, and he told himself to accept that it would forever remain a blip in their personal history.

However, now presented with Jounouchi’s smell, his sleepy face, his body heat - Kaiba’s resolve was rapidly crumbling. It had been almost five weeks since he’d last seen Jounouchi, and if he was being honest, he’d forgotten how cute he was. He looked so sweet and serene and not at all like Kaiba had last seen him, confused and upset.

After a few minutes of Kaiba blatantly staring, their instructor came over the intercom again, startling him into looking out the window.

“We’re pulling in, stretch those legs and get ready to carry your stuff to the cabin!”

Groans erupted across the cabin, but Kaiba only turned and craned his neck to look across the aisle, hoping that Anzu or Yuugi would notice Jounouchi and wake him up.

No such luck though. They stood squished together halfway in the aisle, their noses almost touching. The chatter in the bus was picking up now, and they whispered to each other, completely oblivious to their surroundings.

Kaiba sighed and looked at Jou, keeping a safe distance away. “Jounouchi.”

Nothing. He didn’t move or even twitch.

“Jou _nou_ chi,” Kaiba said louder, leaning a bit closer to his face.

Jou knit his eyebrows together in his sleep.

Kaiba glanced at Yuugi again to confirm they weren’t paying attention before leaning a bit closer.

“Katsuya!” he barked.

He yanked his head back as Jounouchi’s eyes fluttered open and he registered who was in front of him.

“Jesus,” Jou mumbled as he scrambled to stand up, practically throwing himself into the aisle as he put two and two together and realized that Kaiba had called him by his first name.

~

Outfits desperately needed to be changed as soon as everyone’s belongings were stuffed under their respective bunk beds. It had heated up outside despite the chilly morning, and flannels and sweatpants were exchanged for t-shirts and shorts.

Everyone met up outside after changing and headed down to the lake, where they spent a few hours throwing sand at each other while pretending to complete their biology assignments.

After running around, working up a sweat, and, admittedly, having an enjoyable time, Jounouchi jogged back to their cabin so he could change. He’d been flustered earlier and ended up stuffing his things under his bed as quickly as possible in order to avoid being in the same room as Kaiba for too long.

The cabins were cramped, with little room for anything else besides their two rows of six bunk beds, all smushed very close together. Jounouchi opened the door cautiously, and when no sound came, he relaxed and jogged to his bed in the middle of the row.

Unbeknownst to Jounouchi as he swapped his jeans for shorts, Kaiba laid on his side on the top bunk of the bed closest to the door, one arm propping up his head and the other holding the page of his latest mystery. With no service, he was forced to abandon his laptop and employ his backup plan for entertainment.

When Jou cracked the door, it all happened too quickly and gave Kaiba nowhere near enough time to properly weigh his options of whether or not to alert him of his presence. He panicked watching him walk past, but any internal debate he was involved in dissolved as soon as Jou put his hair up, and he had to focus on biting the inside of his cheek to avoid breathing too loudly.

He managed to keep mostly quiet while watching Jou change, but as he pulled his shirt over his head, the sight of a gnarly bruise on his lower back made Kaiba suck in a breath. Jounouchi turned with his shirt held up to his chest defensively, immediately spotting him near the door and scowling.

“Have you been there this whole time?”

“I just - I was just in here reading,” Kaiba said quietly, equally as flustered.

“Fuckin’ say something next time,” Jounouchi mumbled as he turned around and put on his shirt.

Unable to think of an excuse or even a comeback, Kaiba said nothing and stared intently at his book until Jounouchi left the cabin.

~

When Jounouchi got back to their spot by the lake, almost everyone had stripped down to their bathing suits and was running around in the water splashing each other. On the sand he spotted Anzu burying her legs and opted to join her, pulling off his shirt and tossing it nearby as he sat down.

They spent a while fully covering every inch of Anzu’s legs, and once that was done, Jounouchi started working on forming the end into a crude mermaid tail. As he sculpted one side, Anzu giggled and he looked up, following her gaze to the edge of the grass behind them.

Kaiba stood with his back to them, his arms crossed as he again argued with their instructor about something. Even in the heat and on the beach, he was dressed head to toe in black, and Jounouchi rolled his eyes as he turned back to his creation.

A while later, after finishing their sculpture to the best of his ability, Jou turned around to find their instructor asleep in a lawn chair, a book in his lap. Behind him, Anzu cleared her throat, and he turned back to face her.

“You okay?”

Jounouchi made a face at her. “Yeah?”

She smiled and leaned back on her hands, nodding her head to the side. “He already came back outside.”

Jou glared at her but turned to look in the direction she’d nodded, immediately spotting Kaiba laying on his side at the other edge of the field, dressed only in a pair of blue swim trunks. One arm was propped up in the grass holding his head up as he read a book, and Jou immediately turned back to Anzu as his stomach fluttered.

“Has he talked to you?” she asked quietly, looking back and forth between his eyes.

“He’s an asshole,” Jounouchi deadpanned, leaning forward again and packing more sand onto her legs.

Anzu raised an eyebrow at him but said nothing as she helped him.

“He keeps looking over here,” she said after a few minutes, regretting it as Jounouchi closed his eyes in frustration.

“Don’t tell me that shit,” he muttered.

“Sorry,” Anzu said sheepishly. “Just try not to think about him.”

~

Dinner consisted of foil meals cooked in the bonfire. Ingredients were lined up buffet-style, and the chaperones never tried to regulate any sort of system for grabbing them. Too much work for almost never any result.

“I’ll grab yours if you want, Jou,” Yuugi chirped up at him from his spot in front of their log. “What do you like?”

“You sure?” Jou asked, shrugging as Yuugi nodded back. “A’right, I mean, my favorites are bacon and green onions, but everyone always takes all of those, so just grab what you can of ‘em and I’ll take whatever else is left.”

Yuugi saluted him as he stood up and dashed to the buffet. When he returned a few minutes later, one piece of foil was stacked twice as tall as the other. As Yuugi set the bigger piece on Jounouchi’s lap, he inspected it more closely to find what must have been at least half of the bacon available and a generous handful of green onion piled atop his other ingredients.

“How’d you get so much? I’m lucky if I ever get a fraction a’this,” Jounouchi asked in disbelief as he folded the top over his foil.

“Oh, Kaiba said he took too much and gave me a bunch,” Yuugi replied absentmindedly, focused on rearranging the pepperonis on his dish.

“Hn,” Jou grunted back, turning to look across the bonfire and finding Kaiba seated on the end of a log, leaned forward onto his knees with his head in his hands. They made eye contact for a moment but Kaiba quickly broke it and looked away, standing up and leaving down the trail to their cabin.

~

By the time they’d arrived at their cabin the night before, Kaiba was already asleep (or at least, pretending to be asleep), and Jounouchi was practically unconscious the moment his head hit the pillow.

Breakfast was uneventful, consisting of mediocre granola and scrambled eggs, followed by an obnoxious attempt at a few camp songs by their instructor. Everyone was thrilled when Capture the Flag was announced, and teams were counted off before everyone ran to the field.

On one end was the sandy shore of the lake, where Otogi and two other boys from their class stood to guard the flag. On the other side was a forested area with a small patch of trees, the flag placed in the center. Again forced to participate, Kaiba lounged against the base of the thickest tree with his book in his hand, having immediately claimed the role of flag defense.

This was exactly the type of game that Jounouchi excelled at, and when the air horn went off, he held back for a minute before casually sneaking around the side and making it to the edge of the patch of trees.

Taking care to be quiet, he crept through the outer layer of trees and crouched down as he spotted the flag in the center. He waited a minute to see if anyone would walk by, and after convincing himself that the coast was clear, he crawled to the center and took a step into the small patch of grass.

Only a few feet away, Kaiba set his book down in his lap and looked up at Jou, who spotted him only a moment later and froze in place. Some unknown amount of time later, Kaiba reopened his book and settled back into place, staring at the same spot on the page as Jounouchi slowly grabbed the flag in his peripheral vision.

Jou hesitated for a second before disappearing back through the trees with the flag in hand. Several of them noticed him leave the clearing and he broke into a sprint, successfully outrunning them and making it to the other side just in time to be crowded by everyone on his team.

He was swarmed by a sea of grabbing hands and congratulations, but he didn’t hear a thing.

~

The last activity of the day was a bonfire, and even after some lengthy morning naps, everyone was feeling drowsy. They’d moved the logs surrounding the fire pit, and everyone sat crowded near the flames, nodding off in the warmth.

After a few final unenthusiastic attempts at some camp songs, their instructor slapped his hands on his knees and stood up before instructing everyone to follow him back to the cabins for some rest.

Honda hoisted Yuugi onto his back for the short journey, and Anzu rubbed her eyes as she nudged Otogi awake, dragging him up onto his feet. As Jounouchi stood up and stretched his legs, everyone disappeared into the trail ahead of him, his teacher’s torch bobbing just up ahead.

Shuffling behind everyone, Anzu turned around and held out her arm, but Jounouchi waved a hand at her dismissively.

“I gotta grab my jacket, I’ll be right there.”

Anzu squinted at him but nodded back and continued down the trail, leaving Jounouchi alone by the dying fire. He walked past the pit to retrieve the coat that he’d haphazardly tossed upon arriving, having to take a few steps into the brush before he finally spotted it. As he stepped out of the bushes, Jou angled himself into the light to better clean off his jacket before putting it back on.

Kaiba stood at the mouth of the trail with his arms crossed, and after watching Jounouchi pick leaves off of his coat for a few seconds, he cleared his throat. Jounouchi only glanced up at him as he put his jacket on, cuffing the sleeves and straightening out his pockets before walking towards the trail. Knowing how small his window of opportunity was, Kaiba took a step forward.

“I’m sorry.”

Jounouchi stopped and stood a few feet away from him.

“What?”

“I want to apologize for how I treated you,” Kaiba repeated, his eyes flicking back and forth between Jounouchi’s. “It was uncalled for.”

Jou’s chest thumped, and he put his hands in his jacket pockets. When Kaiba didn’t go on, he glanced around and leaned his weight onto one foot.

“...okay.”

The fire popped loudly, making them both jump. After a long pause, Kaiba ground his heel into the dirt.

“I’m sort of... worried, about you,” he muttered.

“If you’re just apologizing so you can pity me, that’s bullshit. You weren’t supposed to see that shit,” Jou scoffed.

“That's not why I'm apologizing. And I’m not pitying you,” Kaiba said evenly. “Your bruise scared me.”

Jounouchi flinched at the mention of the mark on his back and stared at the ground. “I don’t know what you want me to say.”

Kaiba cursed under his breath and took a few measured steps, closing the distance between them before grabbing Jounouchi by the arm.

“I just - god dammit,” he cursed under his breath.

Frozen in Kaiba’s grip, Jounouchi watched as he fought with himself.

“I _care_ about you,” Kaiba finally blurted, and the rest just came pouring out. “I just, _like_ you, and I don’t know if that even matters to you anymore, but I don't care at this point, and I don’t know _what_ happened and I don’t know _how_ it happened, but for _some_ reason this is - it’s happening _,_ and here I am with these _feelings_ for you. So, ah…”

He paused and took a deep breath.

“That’s just… all I have to say.”

Jounouchi’s mouth hung open, and Kaiba loosened the iron grip he held on his wrist.

“I can go,” he muttered, his chest practically vibrating with anxiety.

Met again with silence, Kaiba pulled his arm away and took a step back, but Jounouchi immediately reached out and yanked him back even more tightly than before.

“Are you fuckin’ with me? You’re just bein’ a dick right now?”

Both the red in Kaiba’s cheeks and his scowl only deepened, but he didn’t move, and Jounouchi squeezed his arm.

“Say it,” he said quietly. “Say you mean it.”

“I’m - ah,” Kaiba stammered, flinching as Jou squeezed his arm even harder. “I mean it. I’m serious.”

Jounouchi narrowed his eyes again. “You told me to get the fuck out of your house.”

“I was and still am unprepared for anything like this.”

“And I am?” Jounouchi scoffed.

“I - yes, well,” Kaiba conceded, “I know I have no excuse. I panicked and acted like an insane person.”

Jounouchi raised an eyebrow. “And now you’re fine?”

“I’m here, aren’t I?”

“You were forced to come,” Jou argued.

Kaiba shrugged. “I’m never forced to do anything.”

Jou just held his gaze.

“I wanted to see you,” Kaiba mumbled, now only a few inches from Jou’s face.

After a long pause spent quietly staring at each other, Jounouchi released Kaiba’s wrist. His arm lingered against Jou’s chest for a few seconds, and Jou smirked at him.

“Oh, you tryin’ to come on over here now?”

Kaiba immediately yanked his hand away.

“Wh- I’m not doing anything,” he sputtered.

Jounouchi cocked his head to the side. “You gonna run away again?”

Chest pounding, Kaiba snorted. “What does that mean?”

“Both times I’ve gotten to kiss you, you’ve run away afterwards,” he teased.

Kaiba bit the inside of his lip and frowned at him. “I wasn’t planning on it, no.”

“Ah,” Jou sighed theatrically. “Well, unfortunately, that’s not really a risk I’d like to take right now.”

“Fucking shut up,” Kaiba mumbled, abruptly bringing both hands to Jounouchi’s face and kissing him. Jou’s hands immediately wrapped around Kaiba’s waist, and they kissed in the glow of the fire for a few minutes before Kaiba finally pulled his head back, out of breath.

Jounouchi kept both arms around his waist and leaned back for a better view.

“You’re pretty,” he said quietly, absentmindedly biting at his lip as he looked Kaiba up and down.

Kaiba’s entire body flushed and he let go of Jou’s face, letting his arms fall on either side of his neck.

“Hush.”

Driven now by the fluttering in his stomach, Jou tightened his grip around Kaiba’s waist and kissed him even harder than before. At some point, Kaiba’s hands found their way to the back of Jounouchi’s head again, and when they pulled apart for the second time, they were both out of breath.

“Fuck,” Jounouchi cursed in between breaths.

“Hm?”

“I like kissing you,” he babbled, absentmindedly running his thumb over Kaiba’s spine as blood roared in his ears.

Finally Kaiba couldn’t help himself and he smiled down at him. “You are ridiculous.”

“Okay,” Jounouchi mumbled, grinning back.

“Jounouchi-”

“Don’t you mean _Katsuya_?” Jou teased, and to his surprise, Kaiba bristled and untangled his hand from his hair.

“I was only trying to wake you up,” he defended.

Jounouchi held Kaiba’s waist tightly as he laughed, keeping him in place as he tried to pull away.

“Hey, I’m kidding.”

Kaiba stopped struggling and scowled at him.

“Why so offended?” Jou prompted, nudging him in the back.

“I’m not,” Kaiba argued.

Jou beamed at him, and after a few seconds, Kaiba couldn’t stand his smug expression anymore and turned to face the fire.

“You can call me that, Kaiba,” Jou said quietly.

“Shut up, I never asked to call you anything.”

“Okay,” Jou said, still grinning. “Well just in case, I give you permission.”

He waited a second before leaning forward and nudging his nose against Kaiba’s, silently asking permission before kissing him again. Unable to even fake reluctance, Kaiba melted into him and after only a few seconds Jou pulled back, leaving Kaiba practically drooling just in front of his face.

“You okay?” Jou asked softly.

“You taste good,” Kaiba mumbled, running his tongue over his front teeth.

“Hm,” he hummed back absently.

“Katsuya,” Kaiba purred, and Jounouchi’s knees almost gave out underneath him.

“Yeah - what?”

Kaiba took Jou’s jaw in his hand, just as gingerly as he'd done before, and tilted it to the side. 

“Have you always been this handsome?”

“Ahhh,” Jounouchi whined as his chest flushed. “Why so sweet all of a sudden, huh?”

Kaiba wrapped his other arm around Jounouchi's waist and gently thumbed over the scar on his jaw.

“You deserve it.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i know the ending of this is a little abrupt but you know what!!!!! that's life babey!  
> i hope you enjoyed <3


End file.
